Coffee Stains
by BernieWhiskers
Summary: When their orders are mixed up at Red's Coffee and Book shop, Alex and Piper quite literally stumble across each other. How will their Coffee Stain encounter play out? And will these two strangers become friends or maybe even more? AU OITNB
1. Chapter 1

Orange Is The New Black

 **Okay, this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfic as well as my first OITNB fanfic. I would appreciate any and all comments and feedback so I know what I'm doing right and where I need to improve… Thank you for reading! :)**

 **Rated M for covering all bases for all possibilities.**

 ***** I do not have any claim to any of the characters from Orange is the New Black, I am merely using them for storytelling purposes. *****

The long haired brunette woman entered the coffee shop, casting an unsure glance over her shoulder at the grey sky out the window. She walked up to the counter of the little book and coffee shop owned by her friend Red. The smell of coffee already taking over her senses, she searched through her leather jacket's pockets quickly before her hand found the money she'd been searching for. Now second in the queue the brunette observed the woman in front of her, fairly tall and blonde. She wore a loose white top and tight grey jeans with simple flat shoes. Those shoes stepped forward and took the woman so she was stood in front of the till ready to be served by the new till girl whose name badge read 'Lorna'. Once the woman had ordered she stepped aside to wait for her drink and Lorna preceded to take the brunettes order. Lorna called both orders to a fiery haired woman who the brunette knew and was good friends with.

"Hey Vause!" the flame haired woman called happily when she turned towards Lorna to hand her the drinks she had made on Lorna's instructions.

"Hey Nicky!" the brunette replied with a sly smile. Nicky only ever called her by her surname, if she was ever addressed by her first name there was something very wrong.

"Just couldn't stay away from me, eh?" Nicky joked playfully, dramatically raising a hand and placed it over her heart.

The brunette raised an eyebrow suggestively, a smirk played at the corner of her mouth. "You wish Nichols!" she replied as she took her drink from Lorna, noticing as she did the blonde had already taken hers and left.

"Oooh! The signature Vause look has joined the party! Well it's been nice to chat with ya kid but some of us have gotta work ya know?" Nicky teased.

"See ya Nicky!" the brunette laughed before turning towards the door to leave.

As the brunette reached the edge of the pavement directly in front of the shop, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She passed her drink from her right hand to her left so she could extract her phone and check the message on it. After reading the message she sighed and put her phone back in her pocket unanswered as it had killed the happy buzz she'd had just moments before. With another sigh she took a sip of her drink and pulled a face at the sweet taste, this was not what she'd ordered.

She turned to head back to Red's and take it up with Nicky, when a soft blonde mass collided with her. She felt hot liquid cover her shirt and the left side of her leather jacket, a quick thought went to how difficult it may be to get the possible stain out. As quickly as that thought came it left at the sight of the blonde woman who had just crashed into her over-balancing due to her surprise and falling towards the road. The brunette threw out a hand to catch the blonde's now free hand and tugged on her arm, causing the other woman to be pulled right up against her. Still with the blonde's hand in hers the brunette automatically put her other arm around the shorter woman's waist to combat their momentum and to stop her falling back towards the road.

A second later an older woman walked past them, not having witnessed their situation moments before, only seeing them wrapped in each other's arms. She stopped to speak to them.

"Oh, it's so lovely to see such love, girls. I know how people can be but it's still so beautiful to see how love prevails!"

The brunette recovered first and released her hold on the woman in her arms slightly but the blonde woman still clung to her tightly, still shocked.

"Err… thank you ma'am." The brunette replied politely.

The woman's smile got even bigger. "Aww, how did you two meet?"

Alex glanced at the woman in her arms, she seemed to have pulled herself together enough to understand the situation. The blonde smiled charmingly at the older woman and relaxed more into the brunette's arms so they look more like a couple, surprise registered momentarily on the face of the woman who was holding her, which the blonde noticed but smiled what she hoped was reassuringly at her, and she silently hoped the brunette would forgive her for playing along… She kept their bodies flush so that the woman would not see the fresh stains down their fronts.

"It's a funny story… Our drink orders from the little shop over there," The blonde gestured to the shop they now faced then returned her hand to her pretend lover's jacket, "got mixed up by mistake and on my way back to the shop I walked into her and managed to pretty much throw it all over her… So… Um yeah." The blonde flashed another dazzling smile which held a hint of embarrassment as she had just described exactly what had just happened.

"Oh girls! That's so romantic! Aww… Well have a good day loves!" The older woman said before she began shuffling off down the road.

The two women waited in their pretend embrace until the old woman had walked a fair distance before stepping apart. They both looked at each other with embarrassment before they both burst laughing.

The brunette put out a hand shyly.

"Would this be a bad time to say hi? I'm Alex by the way."

The blonde took her hand and shook it gently. "Hello, I'm Piper." They both smiled before Piper started talking, suddenly remembering everything that had happened minutes before. "Look I'm really sorry for throwing my – well thinking about it your coffee - over you… It had 'Alex' written on it so it must have been yours. And thank you for catching me, that could have been messy if you hadn't have been there… I'll buy you another coffee and pay to have your clothes cleaned as I really did a good job on covering them didn't I? I'm also sorry for panicking when the woman spoke to us, I didn't know what to do so I played along hoping you would forgive me later…" Piper trailed off when she realised she'd just been blabbering away with Alex staring at her with a smile she seemed to be trying to suppress.

"Wow kid, you really like to talk huh?" Alex chuckled at her.

"I'm a nervous talker…" Piper mumbled quietly, flicking her gaze away from Alex's face.

"I've made you nervous?" Alex asked with her signature smirk, raising an eyebrow playfully.

"No! That's not what I meant, I mean yes, wait no!" Piper struggled with her words, getting herself a little worked up trying to explain exactly what she'd meant.

"Relax kid, I'm messing with you." Alex laughed, her laugh sounded musical but it was low, it fitted the sound of her low voice and suited her personality.

"Oh. Oh right… okay, gottcha." Piper blushed a shade of red that rivalled the paint on Red's coffee and book shop and earned her another grin from Alex. Piper remembered she had a card in her phone case with her details on it. She retrieved it and handed it to Alex.

"Here. It's got my number on it so you can send me the bill on cleaning that jacket and so I can replace the coffee I threw at you…"

Alex got out her phone, wincing inside as she remembered the unanswered message that she would most certainly be berated for not answering and added the number on the card to her phone and sent a text to it so that Piper had her number. She then put the card away in her wallet.

"I've sent you a text so you'll have my number too. But you really don't have to worry, it was an accident and look at it this way: we wouldn't have met otherwise."

Piper smiled at Alex's words and replied, "But I want to though."

"Okay." Alex said with a smile giving in to Piper's silent plea to not reject her offer. At this moment the sky decided it had held out long enough and erupted into pouring rain, quickly drenching both women with cold rivers running down their faces.

"Shit!" Piper muttered under her breath, already beginning to shake with cold.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, water dripping down her face. She adjusted her glasses in what seemed like a familiar habit.

"I walked here, with no stupid coat. My house is 20 minutes away. Fuck!" Piper started pacing in the rain and had a two fingers pressed to her temple.

"I know we've only just met but… my car is just down the road, I can give you a ride. If you'd like?"

There was something about the way she asked that made Piper not want to refuse her, but she felt awful for everything that had happened so far with the woman.

"That is lovely for you to offer Alex but… after everything I've done so far-" Piper started.

"Do you seriously expect me to leave you out in this weather, knowing full well that you are freezing, have no coat and it'll take you 20 minutes at least to get home? And you're already soaking. Please?" Alex was almost begging, something about that seemed like it was very uncharacteristic a thing for her to do.

"Um… okay, as long as you really don't mind?" Piper said, secretly elated to be able to get out the rain quickly but wanting to offer the woman before her a way out as she didn't want her to feel obliged to help her.

"Come on!" Alex replied and grabbed Piper's hand and dragged her in the direction of her car.

A few minutes later the pair were safely inside Alex's little silver car, blasting the heater in the hope of warming up quickly. Alex began rummaging around the back seat and produced a folded t-shirt and a small towel. She handed Piper both and cut off her objections.

"Piper, you are freezing, don't try to tell me you're not. Put the t-shirt over the top, it might help you get warm quicker. And you can dry your hair with the towel if you want, I won't move the car until you're ready so don't worry."

"Thank you Alex…" Piper said gratefully.

Just as Piper finished rubbing her hair down with the towel her phone started ringing, she looked at the caller I.D and sighed.

"You can answer it if you want I don't mind, and I'll keep quiet." Alex said with a friendly wink.

" _Sorry_ ," Piper mouthed at Alex before answering the call, "Hey Larry."

There was a little bit of shouting from the other end of the phone and Piper rolled her eyes.

"I got caught in the rain and a friend offered to give me a lift. I'll be home shortly, I'll speak to you then. Bye." Piper said brusquely before ending the call. She looked up at Alex who was staring out her window, trying not to listen to the conversation even though she could not escape it. "Sorry… It was my boyfriend Larry. He was angry because I hadn't answered when he called me earlier, and basically he's in a mood and I'm not there to cook his dinner." Piper felt she needed to give an explanation to the brunette but Alex shook her head and smiled with a knowing expression.

Alex went to start the car when her phone then started to ring, she knew who it would be and hung up on them. Immediately afterwards her phone lit up again and Piper gestured for her to answer it, smiling her assurance that she didn't mind either. Alex moved her glasses from her face onto the top of her head and sighed.

"Sylvie." Alex said by way of greeting.

Down the phone a voice shouted loud enough for Piper to hear without trying.

" _Where the FUCK are you Alex? I've been trying to get hold of you for the last hour and you just couldn't be bothered to bloody reply could you? I bet you're off with some-"_ came the string of shouting before being interrupted.

"Enough Sylvie." Alex said with contained anger. "I went to get coffee and made a friend, said friend has no coat. It is raining. I'm driving her home and then I'll be on my way." After she finished talking Alex shut her eyes and put a thumb and finger on the bridge of her nose where her glasses usually sat. She knew her mistake.

" _Her? So you are off with someone else? You're a lying, cheating bitch, Alex. You know that?"_

"Sylvie." Alex said barely masking her anger this time. "Piper is just a friend, I couldn't let her walk home freezing and soaking. I am not the cheating type. The same cannot be said for _you_ though can it?" There was a stunned silence in both the car and on the end of the phone at Alex's sudden outburst of rage. Already she was half regretting it as well as accidently saying Piper's name.

" _I'm sure you'll keep Piper nice and warm won't you?"_ Sylvie hissed in reply.

"Whatever, Sylvie." Alex said simply, before hanging up and throwing her phone in the door pocket. She suddenly remembered that she's not alone in the car and looked up to see Piper looking straight ahead, unsure what to make of what had just happened.

"I'm sorry Piper… Sylvie is… Well she is as she is and I'm not sure why I put up with it. God knows she gives me plenty of reasons not to. She shouldn't have said that about you and I'm sorry. And I wish you hadn't heard me say what I did because it wasn't very nice either…" Alex put her head on the steering wheel and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

She started slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Piper speak.

"It's okay, Alex. It's my fault she went off on one at you, so I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I'm sorry Alex."

"You shouldn't have to apologise for existing Piper." Alex said seriously. "Well we better get going before we receive calls from long lost relatives who've seen the missing people posters our respective people have placed in our absence!"

Alex's attempt at lightening the mood earned a heartfelt laugh from Piper and they began to relax into each other's company again. They drove in silence for a while before Alex turned the radio on, they listened and occasionally sang along with Piper pointing directions until they came to a stop outside Piper's apartment building.

"So here we are." Alex said, almost sadly.

"Here we are." Piper confirmed, with a similar sadness in her tone. "Will you text me when you get home? I know it sounds silly… but I worry about those kind of things and after all I've put you through today…" Piper trailed off again when she saw Alex looking at her and trying not to smile.

"Of course I will Pipes." Alex said softly, then her face showed her worry that she may have offended Piper with the accidental use of a new nickname.

Piper just smiled, relieved that her new friend would text her later. Pleased, partly because she would know she had gotten home safely, albeit possibly to a fuming girlfriend, but also because she wanted to keep talking to this woman.

"We'll have to arrange for that replacement coffee." Alex said with smile.

"We will. And you'll have to send me the bill for cleaning that jacket!" Piper agreed.

"We'll see about that…" Alex chuckled, Piper had a feeling that Alex would conveniently 'forget' to send that to her.

"Well I better go inside now before Larry calls again… Thank you for today and I'm sorry for the trouble…" Piper said sincerely.

"Thank _you_ for today, I enjoyed it, coffee and all!" Alex replied with a wink.

Piper got out the car and jogged through the rain to the door of the apartment building and turned to see Alex's car still there, waiting for her to go in before she drove away. Piper waved in farewell and Alex pulled away.

Piper let herself into the apartment she shared with her boyfriend Larry and sank onto the comfy sofa, exhausted. She heard Larry come into the room and decided she would avoid the conversation that would probably ensue if she didn't make her excuses.

"Hey Larry, I'm going for a shower as I'm freezing cold and rather soaked…" Piper said, trailing off when Larry wasn't even concentrating on her but on the program he had just turned on. Piper left the room and locked herself in the bathroom while she showered.

After she got dressed in some comfy pyjamas, she checked her phone for messages. She had two she'd missed from her best friend Polly and she had one from an unsaved number. Piper ignored the two from Polly and read the one from that must have been from Alex.

 **From Alex:**

 **Hey it's Alex, I'm home now. Thank you for a fun afternoon Pipes, I think I needed it. Well, have a good evening. :)**

Piper smiled at the message and replied quickly, her fingers tumbling over the keys before pressing send.

 **From Piper:**

 **Thanks for letting me know :) I had fun too. Have a good evening Al. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who read/followed/favorited/reviewed the first chapter of Coffee Stains. I am glad so many of you seemed to like it, I hope this chapter lives up to the standard of Chapter One. I want to apologise for the wait as at first I lacked inspiration on how to progress to where I'm planning for this to go, but I'm also in the middle of moving house so finding time to actually write was a little difficult.**

 **But hopefully you will all like this chapter as much as the first one! (Even if you are left slightly less fond of some of the characters… I'm sorry about them. They're only just getting started…) :)**

 **Chapter 2:**

"Larry, can we please talk about this later? I'm late to meet Polly as it is. You know how she gets when I'm late. And she still hasn't forgiven me for not replying to her messages the other day, this is kind of our make-up lunch, so I really need to go…" Piper sighed, annoyed that this had been brought up again just before she had to leave.

"You never have any time for me or Polly since you met that Alex, Who is he? Are you going to leave me for him?" Larry accused wildly.

"What?" Piper exclaimed loudly, stopping for a second to look her slightly intoxicated boyfriend before continuing her mad rush to get ready for her lunch date with her best friend. "I've only texted Alex a few times since we met. One of those was to thank _her_ for letting me know she got home safely. So what Larry, I made a friend! And I'm happy about it! Is it a crime? Now I'm really late to meet Polly." Piper threw her hands in the air, a gesture to show her despair with this reoccurring conversation.

Piper walked out the door of the apartment, slamming it as she did, and jogged down the stairs and out the main door of the building. Walking along the street until she came to her car, she unlocked it and threw her bag onto the passenger seat as she got in. Piper started her car and pulled away from where she had parked it the day before after coming home from work.

Piper tried to cheer herself up during the drive to Red's Café and Bookshop where she and Polly had agreed to meet. She let her mind wander, subconsciously hoping she could – at least for a while – forget about her newest argument with Larry. She settled with one of the few text conversations she had actually had with Alex and smiled at the thought.

 _A few days after Alex and she had met, Piper had been cleaning the house while listening to music. She had unlocked her phone to change the song and found she had a new message._

 _ **From Alex:**_

 _ **So Piper, if we're going to be friends, what else do I need to know about you? Do you have a surname? Pets? Tattoos? :)**_

Piper chuckled at the memory of how Alex had broken the ice and started them talking properly.

 _ **From Piper:**_

 _ **Hmm… there's not that much to me if I'm honest. My surname is Chapman, no pets as Larry is allergic to nearly everything… and none yet but I toyed with the idea of a little fish for my next birthday or maybe an infinity symbol.**_

 _Piper had paused over the send button before smiling and adding:_

 _ **My brother always joked I'd get 'Trust No Bitch' tattooed down my arm as an act of defiance against my parents when I was younger… I didn't though… How about you?**_

 _She pressed send and smiled at her phone. Pleased that someone was actually acknowledging her that day as both Polly and Larry had ignored her since she'd answered that it was Alex who had texted her when they inquired earlier that morning. A few minutes later her phone buzzed again._

 _ **From Alex:**_

 _ **I'm sure there's more to you than you think Piper Chapman. :) Surname's Vause. Also no pets, but tattoos I do have. I have a salt shaker on my left shoulder, a rose and I have a few more planned soon. I wouldn't have pegged you for a rebel kid! But I can see it suiting you ;)**_

 _Piper laughed at Alex's response and was about to reply when she received another message:_

 _ **From Alex:**_

 _ **Well, I've got to go to work now, speak later? :) Have a good day.**_

As she remembered the last part of the message, Piper smiled to herself. She would try to have a good day today too. Her mind continued to wander the remainder of the journey but now she had a slight smile playing on her lips. Piper parked her car, still in her daze. Just as she walked away from her car she noticed that even with all the free spaces up and down the road, she had parked in the same space Alex's car had been just over a week and a half ago. The realisation of this subconscious act fixed her smile more solidly, Piper walked along the road to the little café and bookshop the happiest she'd been all week.

Pipers newfound good mood lasted until Polly opened her mouth.

"You are 17 minutes late Piper." Polly said, disappointment very clear in her tone and her expression.

" _Hello to you too."_ Piper thought as she rolled her eyes at her friend. "I'm sorry Polly, Larry decided to complain about Alex again. So I had to try and sort that before I left, I told him I had somewhere to be but he wouldn't listen." Piper said by way of response, annoyed that that was the first thing her friend thought to say.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him Piper. He tries his best to be good enough for you and you don't care. You go out and meet new people. Do you ever stop to think about how that makes him feel?" Polly berated her, shaking her head disappointedly as she did so.

"I'm not being hard on him Pol, I just don't see what he has against me making a new friend." Piper said in exasperation. "And I do care, but I can't devote every waking moment to him. I have a job that means sometimes I work odd hours. I have other commitments in my life Polly and I can't just drop them because he feels a little lonely once in a blue moon."

"Wow, you sound like your mother Piper." Polly said as she picked up a menu and pretended not to see the hurt flash behind her friend's eyes at the comment.

Piper didn't feel like having lunch with Polly after that, but she couldn't leave her right now as she knew Polly would see it as her trying to cause more trouble. So she changed the conversation to a topic that she was certain to keep Polly on a role with very little input needed from her.

"So how are you and Pete?" Piper asked with fake excitement that she hoped covered her hurt at being compared to her mother.

Polly's face lit up and she ploughed into a long description about how Pete had redesigned their living room in their apartment, how he now had longer hours at work and how he often worked late into the night and spent the day sleeping. Polly went on to describe the story of how they met, their first date, and many other occasions Piper knew almost inside out, having heard them countless times before.

During this time both women had ordered their lunch and had it delivered to their table by the wild haired woman who had made Alex and Piper's drinks the week before. Polly hardly slowed her flow of words and didn't give Piper the chance to add anything or join in, just spoke in an endless torrent of events and many phrases like: "He's so perfect Piper!", "We went to…" and "He bought me this…". Piper was finding it hard to keep up her fake interest in their make-up lunch date so was relieved when Polly excused herself to make use of the facilities. She was even more relieved for the slight reprieve upon hearing Polly's parting words:

"Larry's sweet, you know. You're really lucky to have such a wonderful man around. It's a pity you're letting Larry slip right through your fingers by treating him like you do."

Piper was taken aback at her friend's words. She tried to fathom exactly why Polly would care that much. As far as she knew they weren't that close. Piper also got the feeling that Polly didn't like her new friendship with Alex either and there was no logical reason that she could muster to work out why.

Piper suddenly remembered that she was waiting to receive a time for her meeting that day and her phone from her bag to check her work emails. She had a little email icon on her status bar and unexpectedly a text icon too. She check the email first and mentally noted the time she needed to be a work for, not having any clue as to what the current time was as she didn't think to check.

She opened her message application and smiled to see she had a message from none other than Alex. Maybe her day would pick up again after all.

 **From Alex:**

 **Hey Pipes :)**

 **From Piper:**

 **Hey Alex :) How are you?**

Piper happily tapped a reply back and hit send. Now filled with hope at the possibility of a more interesting conversation. Almost instantly, Alex texted her back.

 **From Alex:**

 **I'm good, you?**

Piper paused before replying, unsure how much of the truth to divulge.

 **From Piper:**

 **Good, a little stressed but good too :)**

"God Piper!" Polly exclaimed. "You weren't listening to a damn word I just said!" Polly whined childishly at her.

"Sure I was…" Piper replied distractedly as she glanced up from her phone to see Polly had returned to their booth and was staring at her with annoyance. She put her phone on her lap and put both her hands on the table so Polly had her full attention.

"I leave you for five minutes and you jump on your phone! And I'm betting it wasn't Larry you were texting as you hardly talk to him, don't think I don't know! And now you ignore him in favour of this new 'friend' of yours. You really need to sort out your priorities Piper." Polly ranted at her. Piper waited for Polly to finish and composed herself slightly before replying.

"I actually went on my phone to check when I have to be at work today as I was waiting for the details for it. As it turns out I have half an hour before I have to be there…" Piper trailed off knowing that this new bit of information would set her friend off at her again.

"So you weren't talking to Alex _at all_? And you're ditching me? You really shouldn't make plans with someone if you aren't going to stay for them!"

"Well I was talking to her-" Piper started.

"I knew it!" Polly interrupted.

"But," Piper continued with a slight edge of anger to her tone, "she texted me and I was replying, and I didn't plan this Polly, you did! Knowing full well I had to work at some point today as I told you when you called to arrange it this morning." Piper was getting more and more annoyed with her friend as she didn't see what was wrong with texting Alex while Polly had been absent from the table. Apparently it made it seem like she had something to hide.

"Alex is a girl? Well now I feel like you're replacing _me_ with a stranger that you've only just met! You've known her just over a week and she comes before me!" Polly complained as Piper's phone audibly buzzed again.

"Yes, Alex is a girl. I am an adult and I'm allowed friends okay? I'm sorry Polly, but I have to go as I've got to be at work soon." Piper's composure snapped and she quickly pulled some money from her purse and threw it on the table as she got up, leaving her stunned friend sat watching her walk briskly towards the door of the little café and book shop.

Piper walked quickly to her car before she lost the tight grip she'd been keeping on her emotions. Staring out the front window for a few minutes, Piper reclaimed control of her breathing and calmed herself from her slight state brought on by how untrusting her best friend and boyfriend had been of her over the past few days, when she had done nothing to warrant it other than befriend someone they didn't know. Even then she could not see how that could make her deserve the way they had been treating her as she had hardly spoken to or of Alex to either of them. It was a complete mystery.

After a few minutes Piper remembered her phone had gone off again in the café and she checked it, hoping it would be Alex as she really wanted to talk to someone who wasn't going to get angry with her for no reason.

 **From Alex:**

 **Stressed is not too good Pipes, what's up? :/**

Piper considered not replying as she did not want to fuel either Polly or Larry's annoyance at her for talking to Alex, especially about them. She then recalled what she had said earlier about being an adult and being allowed to have her own friends, so she replied to her new friend's message.

 **From Piper:**

 **Just Larry and Polly have both been having a go at me for talking to you, they don't seem to remember I'm an adult and allowed my own friends… Sorry rambling now… Shit, just remembered I've got a stupid meeting in about 20 minutes so I can't really talk right now, sorry Al :(**

Piper stared at the message, her finger poised over the send button, knowing full well that once she send it there would be no way to un-complain about how she was feeling right at that moment. She pressed send. She had no idea why she was telling a virtual stranger her problems but something about the time she'd spent with Alex made her feel like she could trust her. She seemed so genuine, that was rare in people these days and they seemed to have a mutual interest in becoming friends, even after the catastrophe that was how they met, so that was what Piper hoped to do.

A few seconds later Piper got a reply.

 **From Alex:**

 **Don't be sorry! It's not your fault. It sounds like they're the ones who need to grow up… No problem, you've got to work Pipes :) I'm just about to start a shift at Red's. Where do you work if you don't mind me asking? :)**

Somehow, even with her short reply Piper was already feeling better. Comforted by Alex confirming it wasn't her fault and that she hadn't done anything wrong made Piper smile with relief. Suddenly she thought about where she'd just been…

 **From Piper:**

 **Thank you… You work at Red's? I was literally just in there!**

 **FeatherPage Publishing, I'm an editor :)**

Piper was gutted she'd missed seeing her new friend, but then she thought about who she'd been with, maybe it way for the best…

 **From Alex:**

 **Small world, huh kid? :) I was out the back, I work in the book section mainly.**

 **Cool! We get books from there sometimes!**

Disappointment spread through Piper as she realised seeing Alex might have brightened up what was turning out to be a rather bad day.

 **From Piper:**

 **Small world indeed! If I'd known I would have stayed for a little longer :)**

 **From Alex:**

 **Hehe, maybe next time. :) I'm sorry but I've got to go now, so have a good meeting!**

"Oh Shit!" Piper muttered to herself upon being reminded that she had a meeting and upon seeing the time on her phone's clock. "I'm so going to be late if I don't get a move on…"

Not wanting to seem rude she typed out a quick reply to Alex.

 **From Piper:**

 **Maybe next time. :) Okey dokey, thank you – although I doubt it'll be too interesting ;) Have a good shift.**

After pressing send Piper threw her phone in her bag roughly, before putting her keys in the ignition and driving the short journey to work from the café as quickly as the speed limit would legally allow.

Piper slid into her seat just as the editor leading the meeting turned around to begin. The meeting was nothing out of the ordinary and only consisted of Piper and her co-workers taking it in turns to suggest ideas and improvements for consideration about their respective projects which were all laid out on the huge wooden conference table. An hour and a half later and the meeting finally drew to a close, allowing the editors to collect their manuscripts and disperse.

"Hey Piper!" a voice called from behind her as she tried to leave the office as quickly as possible. She stopped, knowing that she had not been far enough away to feign not hearing him.

"Hey Anthony." Piper greeted cheerfully, despite not being overly fond of her co-worker.

"A few of us are all getting together tonight for a drink after work, wondered if you'd be interested?" Anthony said, flashing her a, what he probably believed to be seductive, smile.

Piper grimaced internally at the thought of going out that evening and decided to politely decline.

"No problem Chapman, maybe we'll see you next time? I remember you're quite a fan of tequila right?"

"Maybe next time. Err… yes?" Piper replied awkwardly, hoping Anthony would not end up walking all the way to her car with her, he'd done it before… Luckily for her he waved in goodbye and darted after another editor he'd spotted ducking into their office, quite probably to avoid him…

The blonde returned to the little car park where she had parked her car. She got in and leisurely drove home, not in any hurry to return should Larry be home before her. She was not looking forward to seeing him after their conversation that morning and after Polly complaining at her for her 'ill treatment' of her boyfriend.

Piper tentatively let herself into the apartment and sighed in relief when Larry was nowhere to be found. She then felt guilty for feeling that as she started to worry that maybe Polly and Larry were right. What if she was neglecting them both? Pushing these thoughts from her already crowded mind, Piper dropped her bag on the end of the sofa and kicked off her shoes. She then padded over to the music stand where her IPod was plugged into the docking station charging and picked a calm, soothing track, after which she went back over to the sofa and took out her phone.

Piper went back through her few short conversations with Alex and started reading one she had almost forgotten about:

 _ **From Alex:**_

 _ **If you were ever sent to prison what do you think it would be for? For me I think it'd probably be drug smuggling. I'm great at planning things ;) (I don't import drugs... Just thought I should say that…)**_

Piper laughed just as she had when she'd read that the first time, then continued reading.

 _ **From Piper:**_

 _ **Hmm don't know, maybe I'd be a drug mule? Maybe I'd carry a suitcase of drug money for you? ;) (I don't carry drug money for people either ;P)**_

 _ **From Alex:**_

 _ **Haha, what a team we'd make! ;)**_

About ten minutes later, Piper got up and went into the little kitchen to find something to drink. She settled on a rather large glass of wine, which she felt she kind of deserved after the day she'd had. She shuffled back into the living room and found herself swaying to the music as she drank her way through her glass of red liquid.

A seemingly infinite amount of time later the front door slammed shut and the sound of keys being thrown on the little side table by the door rang through the hallway. Piper was feeling fuzzy and contented after relaxing somewhat in the calmness of the music and wine.

"Oh you're home." Larry said bluntly, almost tripping into the side of the little coffee table as he made his way towards the sofa.

"I could say the same to you." Piper replied with just as much enthusiasm. She then remembered her conversation with Polly and decided to make an effort to have a nice talk with Larry. "How was your day?" she asked more pleasantly.

"Alright I suppose, started off rubbish, but then I went to the pub and met a friend for a drink." He slurred, confirming he had definitely been to the pub.

"Oh? Who did you meet?" Piper said, trying to keep the conversation going.

"You don't know them." Larry said quickly, seeming to remember that it was Piper talking to him. "How was Polly?" he asked.

"She's fine. Still annoyed with me, even more so now I think, but everything is perfect in Polly and Pete world!" Piper answered joylessly. Larry made a face at her attempt at sarcastic humour.

"You should say things like that about your friends." Larry stated, then shrugged as if he didn't care. "Did you go to work in the end?"

"Yes, I did. One of the many reasons Polly is annoyed with me. But at least I got to pick up some manuscripts to read. Gives me something to do." She sighed.

"Are you saying I have nothing to do? I thought you were fine with my writing career being slow. But apparently that was a lie." Larry demanded. And Piper tried to figure out how and why Larry had jumped to the conclusion that she was judging him for not having a steady job like she did.

"No Larry, I'm not saying that. Where did that come from?" Piper asked, confused.

"Well it was either work or stay and text Alex wasn't it? So there was no room for me either way!" Larry shouted back at her. Piper finally understood, he was completely drunk. He probably had no idea what he was saying and the illusion of him actually engaging in a conversation disappeared. At the mention of Alex, Piper saw red. She had had enough of her best friend and boyfriend bringing that poor woman into their arguments when she literally had done nothing. She stood up crossly and shoved her phone into her pocket.

"What have you got against me being friends with Alex?" Piper demanded angrily. "Seriously, I met her just over a week and a half ago, it's new and exciting but I've not been going on about her endlessly, in fact the only time I've actually brought her up in conversation was when I told you about her the day I met her. The rest of them were all you or Polly. So what is both yours and Polly's problem? Because I just can't figure it out."

Larry stared at her, stunned for a moment by the ferocity of her voice. He shook himself slightly as if to try to clear his head which, in his fairly drunken state, caused him to wobble and nearly fall over.

Piper shook her head. She took a composing breath and walked tensely to the spare bedroom and locked the door behind her. Almost in tears by the time she got to the double doors, she let herself out onto the balcony and paced for a few minutes, hoping the sounds of the city that she usually found soothing would calm her a little. Piper paused her pacing as a thought came to her and she fished her phone out of her pocket and dialled a number that was becoming quite familiar.

"Hey Alex." Piper whispered softly.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello to you all, me again... :) I'd like to apologise for the wait on this chapter but I've had a lot of changes going on recently which have left little time for me to do much writing... I also apologise for any mistakes as I've been writing and editing this while very tired so I might have missed a few typos or grammatical errors... But anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

"Piper? Hey, what's up girl?" Alex asked happily as her mind processed who was calling. She felt her growing excitement to be talking with the blonde again in a way other than text, she preferred communicating face to face or at least being able to hear the other person.

Alex heard her friend sob once before she heard the rustle of material that muffled the sound of another sob. Alex's heart stopped at the sound, this was not a happy call.

"Pipes? What's wrong?" Alex questioned worriedly, she started collecting up her things and throwing them the closest bag she could find. There was a slight pause.

"I-I'm fine." Piper tried to stammer out, sounding less than fine and it was clear that she knew she wasn't fooling anyone. Especially Alex.

"We both know that's not true." Alex said softly. "Now come on what's up? Do you want me to come and see you?" She added, her bag now packed, ready to leave at the slightest inclination from Piper.

"I'm sorry Al." Piper sniffed. Then the sudden realisation of what Alex had said afterwards seemed to hit her. "No. No, no… It's probably best you don't…" Piper answered carefully. "I mean it's not that I don't want to see you again, I do. It's more that it might make this even worse…" Piper trailed off guiltily.

"Okay…" the brunette replied soothingly. "What will it make worse? Larry and Holly?" Alex said asked, slowly piecing together fragments of their conversation that day into why Piper might have called her crying and why she wouldn't want her to come and see her.

There was a pause before Piper replied and Alex's mind wandered in this time to why she had packed her bag and offered to go and see someone she had barely known two weeks at the drop of a hat, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She reasoned that she would do it for most of her friends, Alex shook her head. No she wouldn't… Nicky maybe, but not many others. There was something about hearing Piper so upset that made Alex angry. She also felt guilty, thinking that although indirectly, it was partly her fault. The sound of Piper's wavering voice jolted Alex from her thinking.

"Yes. It's them." Piper said simply. Then she paused for a second before adding, "You know her name is Polly right?"

"Yeah, it's what I said…" Alex said with a smile, she could tell from her voice that Piper knew she remembered her friends name but had purposely got it wrong.

"Of course." Piper replied with a laugh, it sounded as if she was already feeling happier than she had been. A few moments of silence went past before a quiet chattering sound could be heard down the line.

"Pipes, is that you? Are you cold or something? Where are you?" Alex questioned, a hint of worry creeping back into her voice.

"Oh… Sorry… I didn't realise you could hear that… It's a bit cold out here. I kind of locked myself out on the balcony of the spare bedroom…" Piper admitted with embarrassment.

"When you say kind of locked out…?" Alex prompted.

"I might have to climb through the open window next to the door to get back in again…" Piper said with a light laugh. Then she said, "Or I might be able to fight with the door, we'll have to see."

This earned a rumbling chuckle from the brunette, who shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"If you're cold maybe you should go in?" Alex reasoned, not really wanting to stop talking to the blonde but she didn't want her to catch a cold or get ill just for the sake of a few extra minutes of conversation, no matter how enjoyable.

"I think I'll stay here for a while longer if that's not a problem?" Piper said in response and Alex was secretly pleased she didn't have to say goodbye to her new friend just yet. Because for some reason the thought of that made her sad.

The two women paced around in their separate locations and talked about anything and everything that came to mind.

After a while Alex thought of a question. "Where in the world would you like to go that you haven't been before?" Alex asked, curious to get an insight into Piper's dream for the future.

"I'm not sure…" came Piper's reply. "I think maybe Paris, I always fancied getting lost somewhere so beautiful... How about you?"

Alex laughed kindly and smiled fondly at the view out her bedroom window while Piper tried to question her as to what was so funny.

"Why are you laughing at me Al?" Piper asked childishly, making Alex rumble even louder and smile even wider at the use of her nickname. Alex could hear that the blonde's voice betrayed that she was nearly joining in with Alex's deep and infectious laughter.

"I'm not laughing at you," Alex managed to choke out after a few seconds of trying to compose herself. "It's just that I would have picked Paris too. And for a similar reason. Maybe we'll go one day." Alex said. Neither her tone nor her words indicating whether she meant that they would go together or just that maybe one day they will both have gone to Paris.

Alex could hear Piper yawn down the other end of the phone and began thinking of a way to suggest that maybe they should both retire for the evening without making it sound like she had had enough of their conversation. Alex was fairly sure that she would continue talking to the blonde all night if that was what she asked her to do, however the blonde's yawns were becoming more frequent and she didn't want her friend to have an accident if she fell asleep while leaning on her balcony rail…

"You still awake there Pipes?" Alex said jokingly. She was met with a yawn and she smiled at the image in her head of Piper trying very hard to stay awake.

"Hmm? Just about…" Piper replied sleepily. "Maybe it's time for bed." She added afterwards.

"Maybe indeed kid. We don't want any accidents involving you falling over the railing as you're half asleep!" Alex spoke softly, so as not to interrupt Piper's sleepy mind but hoped her words would get the blonde to try to get warm again and sleep.

While the two women were talking on the phone, a key turned in the door of Alex's apartment and a tall figure slipped into the darkened hallway and towards the bedroom Alex was standing in while talking on the phone.

The figure stepped up behind Alex and laced their arms around her waist, causing her to jump slightly at the contact as it seemed she had not heard their quiet entrance due to being completely distracted by listening to a sleepy reply. After a few seconds, recognition spread through the brunette as she took in the sight of her girlfriend when she glanced over her shoulder to identify the intruder.

Their conversation nearly having been over anyway, Alex began to bring it to an abrupt close.

"I'll speak to you later Pipes, Sylvie's here." Alex said into the microphone of her phone.

Sylvie dropped her hands from Alex's waist sharply at the sound of Alex's nickname for Piper and Alex held her breath, knowing full well that things were about to get messy between them, just as things with Piper and Larry had been a little while before.

"Why can't you talk to her while I'm here?" Sylvie demanded accusingly. "What were you talking to her about?" She folded her arms across her chest and her scowl radiated anger and jealousy. Alex hurriedly pressed the end call button and hoped Piper had not just heard her grumpy girlfriend's outburst.

"Jesus Sylvie, calm the fuck down!" Alex exclaimed, growing annoyed that Sylvie seemed to have no trust in her, even after everything she had done to Alex. "She needed someone to talk to after having an argument with her boyfriend. So she called me. I was just talking her out of throttling him to death." Half way through her angry reply Alex attempted to break the rising tension at her defensiveness with a joke, while hinting that Piper was _not_ single and that she was _not_ cheating with her all in one sentence.

"Not sure why you bothered, with him out the way you could have her all to yourself." Sylvie retorted rudely.

Alex's mind spaced out for a second at her girlfriend's words, she had been so calm a few minutes ago… Alex abstractly wondered if her girlfriend was drunk. Or high maybe? Why was she not seeing reason here? Why was she so paranoid about Alex talking to other people? Then she reasoned that she did know why, because then maybe Alex would find someone else. Someone who wouldn't keep messing her around and causing her more trouble that they were probably worth putting up with. Sylvie was scared that Alex would see through her at last and leave her.

The tense silence between the two women was broken by the beeping ring of the landline phone in the apartment. Alex stalked out of the bedroom without replying to Sylvie's comment to answer it, leaving her girlfriend to cool off a little before she came back into the room. Alex picked up the phone angrily.

"Hello?" She snapped at the unfortunate caller.

"Hello Sexy. Is Alex still at work? Do you want to come and play?" a female voice asked seductively.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Alex all but growled down the receiver.

"Sylvie? Is that you?" The caller said by way of response, all seductiveness gone from her voice.

"No. This is Alex." Alex said through gritted teeth, her eyes had lost all traces of the warmth they had held during her phone call with Piper.

"Shit-" was all the mystery woman was able to say before Alex had hung up on her and thrown the phone back into the cradle that lived in one of the cubby holes in the grand book case in the lounge.

She walked calmly back into her bedroom before stopping and turning to look straight at her girlfriend. She looked at her until she began fidgeting under the hard stare from the brunette's seething emerald eyes.

"Who was it?" Sylvie asked nonchalantly, tugging at the sleeves of the coat she hadn't bothered to take off.

Alex moved her glasses onto the top of her head before looking straight into Sylvie's eyes, she put her hands into the front pockets on her faded jeans and then answered.

"I think you know perfectly well who it was, don't you?" the brunette replied bluntly. The ice in her voice made her stare even more piercing.

Sylvie flinched at her simple words but did not look away. That was all the confirmation Alex needed before she pointed at the drawer in which Sylvie's belongings lived in with a half-hearted sigh.

Sylvie didn't move but just stared at Alex like she was trying to figure something out. She looked Alex up and down, taking in how her shoulders were slightly drooped, how her usually perfect hair looked dishevelled and how her usually expressive face was devoid of all emotion. If she had been crying or shouting at least it would have been some kind of reaction. But there was nothing and that was scarier than any rage or other emotion Alex could have reacted with. It meant that she was serious this time.

Alex felt empty. But at the same time she was full. A churning mess with a mind that was reeling and spinning.

"Get out." Alex stated simply as she noticed Sylvie still hadn't moved. She let the numbness take over her body as she watched Sylvie finally stumble towards the drawer and begin stuffing handfuls of her belongings into the rucksack that had been folded alongside the drawers content.

"I want my key back too." Alex said and let out a sigh. She had nothing more to say.

* * *

A while after Sylvie had left her apartment for the last time, Alex had begun clearing up the mess she had made after the woman's departure. She now had a few less plates than she may have had when the day had begun…

She decided she needed a distraction. A big one. So she called the one person who she knew would be awake and very keen to put the plan forming in her head into action.

"Yo Vause, What's up?" came the familiar voice of Alex's wild haired best friend.

Without greeting her in return Alex went straight to why she called. "Can you please take me somewhere where I can get very drunk…?" she asked, no emotion to her voice.

"Oh… That bad huh?" Nicky said with a raised eyebrow. "I'll be at yours in ten." She said and hung up.

Alex hummed to herself in sad agreement, before collecting the bag she had packed earlier that evening for a very different purpose and sat on the floor in front of her door and waited for Nicky to arrive.

True to her word, ten minutes later there was Nicky's distinguishable knock on the door. Alex opened it but did not offer for her friend to enter.

"Shall we go?" Alex said, eager to leave and begin drinking as much as possible as soon as she could.

"I know just the place." Nicky replied with a sly grin.

"You drunk enough yet to tell me what brought on the sudden desire to drink your troubles away?" Nicky asked her friend casually, trying to just _slip_ it into conversation.

Alex looked up at her wild haired best friend and Nicky rolled her eyes at the expression on Alex's face. It was one of ' _Not nearly enough.'_

Slowly a thought came to Nicky and she tilted her head and frowned slightly.

"Or should I say who?" She whispered softly, loud enough to still be heard over the music that was slowly growing louder the longer they stayed at the club but quietly enough that Alex barely heard her.

A single tear rolled down Alex's cheek and she wiped it away quickly before she managed to say the words that had been on repeat in her head since she'd heard answered the phone earlier ' _Hello Sexy…'_

"She has been cheating on me again."

Alex heard Nicky's quick intake of breath and she could feel the boiling anger coming from her friend.

"Well shit." Nicky said simply, before adding cautiously, "You still with the crazy bitch?"

Alex shook her head slowly from side to side, a small smile played on her lips at her friends description of her ex-girlfriend.

"Well kid, it's probably for the best. I know you were together a long time, but she royally fucked up if you ask me…" Nicky shrugged as she spoke.

"I guess…" Alex mumbled almost inaudibly. "I don't know why I stayed really. I think it was the familiarity of it all." She hung her head guiltily and Nicky lifted her chin with her curled forefinger very gently so that they were looking straight at each other.

"You don't have to stand for it any more Alex." Nicky said seriously, her gaze never shifting from Alex's deep green eyes. The effect of Nicky using her first name brought Alex's focus to every nerve ending in her body, back to the present and back to where Nicky could stop her from falling into a dangerous spiral she swore she'd never lose herself in again after it happened the first time.

The red haired woman sensed she now had Alex back from the edge of whatever it was she had been leaning towards, but knew her friend well enough to know that she would still get herself completely drunk that night. Alex would most definitely not be working tomorrow…

"Well if you're feeling up to it, shall we head over to the bar as I spy some very familiar looking waitresses, one of whom has _so_ been checking you out since you walked in! Maybe we could leave with a few numbers…" Nicky offered, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively as she did so, back to her usual quirky demeanour and dragged Alex behind her.

When they reached the bar Nicky grinned like a Cheshire cat and said to the woman she had pointed out to Alex a few minutes earlier, "It's been a while since I saw you in here. This is my friend Alex…"

* * *

The next morning Alex awoke and realised it was nearly 11 O'clock. She hurried to get out of bed and found herself tangled in her dark blue covers and fully clothed in the same attire she'd worn the day before. As she broke free and stood. She wobbled unsteadily and screwed her eyes closed to stop the world around her from spinning.

"Shit…" she muttered as many things came back to her all at once. She remembered shuffling into her apartment at around three in the morning, more drunk that she had been in a very long time. Nicky had brought her home after she had the waitresses stop serving her friend for fear of her doing more damage to her internal organs… The longer Alex struggled to piece together the evening the more she recalled. Nicky had gotten a call from Lorna who came to meet them at the bar and they talked while secretly keeping an eye on Alex as she flirted her way through drink after drink and ended up with more than a few numbers she knew she would probably never call.

It took Alex a few minutes to bring herself to open her eyes again and she decided to brave checking her phone. After her eyes adjusted to the glaring screen, a sensation that at first reminded her of looking directly at the sun, she saw she had a missed call and voicemail from Red.

"Shit…" Alex cursed again, she had missed the first part of her shift at the coffee and book shop. She hoped that Red hadn't called to fire her as Alex knew that even though Red thought of her as a friend as well as a colleague, she would not let that get in the way of her business's prosperity and she could not have her staff just not turning up.

With a sharp intake of breath, Alex listened to the voicemail and held her breath.

" _Alex, Nicky told me about last night. I don't expect to see you today, especially not with the hangover you most likely have. Give me a call tomorrow if you're coming in."_

The brunette released her held breath and heaved a sigh of relief. She would have been a fool to think Nicky wouldn't have told Red about their evening, seeing as Red was practically Nicky's adoptive mother. The two were very close and this earned Alex some leniency due to her close relationship with Nicky.

Happily Alex thought, Red not only hadn't fired her but had all but told her not to come in… That meant she had the opportunity to try and sleep off the rapidly increasing throbbing in her head. She went into her bathroom and found some Paracetamol to try and reduce the pain in her head before she decided to go back to bed for as long as she could sleep for.

Alex's phone started buzzing on her little wooden coffee table, she stared at it from the sofa, then checked the caller ID. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to anybody right now… the brunette had been awake for just under half an hour and her head was full of thoughts she wished she could get away from but no matter how hard she tried to clear her head they kept coming back. Her attention back on the buzzing machine, she took in the name and answered immediately, knowing that if she didn't there would be hell to pay next time she went to work.

"Hello Red." Alex answered quickly.

"Good you're still alive." Red said by way of greeting in her strong Russian accent. "A woman came in asking for you today." She added, her voice loud in Alex's ear.

Alex groaned audibly thinking that it would have been one of the many girls she had flirted with the night before, she had been so drunk that she probably had forgotten her rule against giving away any information about herself other than her number and on the rare occasion her name.

"She left the name of Chapman. Said you would know it." Red enlightened, noticing that Alex was not sure who she had been talking about.

There came a sigh of relief from Alex's end of the phone and she could hear the smile in Red's voice as she replied.

"A friend of yours, Vause?" the Russian inquired.

"Yes." Alex said with a smile, touched that Piper had come to see her, then she felt guilty for going out the night before and getting so drunk she had then missed seeing her new friend due to not going to work.

"I told her you had called in sick." Red said simply. Alex was grateful that Red was not one to give away details to people, even if Alex was contemplating telling Piper what had happened herself.

"Thank you Red. I appreciate it." Alex said warmly, the closest to happy she had sounded in a while.

"I know you do Alex." Red stated plainly, her tone made it clear she understood Alex's gratification but that she had also said everything she had planned to say. They exchanged polite farewells and Alex was left in silence again and her busy mind began to wander.

An indefinite amount of time later Alex was disturbed from her far away thoughts as her phone buzzed with an incoming message.

 **From Piper:**

 **Hey Al, I came by to see you at work today but your boss and friend said you were off sick. You okay? Just a little worried, hope you're okay :/**

Alex reread the message again and smiled. Something about Piper worrying about her made Alex feel like she was worth slightly more than she had felt she was worth since immediately after finding out that Sylvie had been cheating on her again. She hesitated before typing out a reply. To tell her the truth or not? It was not like Piper would find out exactly was it?

No. Alex couldn't lie to her new friend, the thought of it turned her stomach in knots and she wasn't sure why. She usually didn't mind bending the truth if the situation called for it, but it wasn't something she made a habit of as generally Alex believed herself to be an honest person. She opted to wait and see what her fingers ended up typing.

 **From Alex:**

 **Hey Pipes, I'm sorry. I did. Sylvie and I are no longer together and I needed to water my problems with as much alcohol as I could physically consume…Not my wisest move, but I'm doing a little better now. :)**

Alex pressed send and fidgeted while awaiting the reply. Sudden fear coursed through her at the possibility that Piper might think she was the reason behind the argument she had had. But if this crossed the blonde's mind she did not mention it in her quick reply.

 **From Piper:**

 **Oh... that's not good :( I'm glad to hear you're doing a bit better though. I'm here if you want to talk about it, okay Al? The least I could do after you helped me. And when you say 'watered'… how much are we talking? ;)**

Alex screwed her face up at the idea of recalling her argument with Sylvie. As much as she appreciated Piper's concern she didn't really want to go into it again, at least not so soon. Alex laughed though, at Piper's inquiry as to how much she had drunk to have a hangover bad enough that she couldn't go to work.

 **From Alex:**

 **Thanks Pipes, but I'd rather not talk about it just yet… still trying to process it all. Haha, enough shall we say, that all my internal organ should have shut down and died…**

Alex was grateful of the blonde's concern but she felt like she was still coming to terms with the sudden changes in her life and the knock she had taken to her confidence and state of mind. Randomly she thought, she didn't want to make it seem like she was running straight to Piper as soon as her relationship with Sylvie had ended. She wasn't sure why this occurred to her but once she thought of it, the more it stuck with her. Regardless of her inner thoughts, the pair continued their conversation but switched to light talk about trivial matters, this did not fail though to brighten the brunette's previously gloomy mood and she decided she would not mope around her house anymore. She would get back to work and get back to doing something she loved.

* * *

"Excuse me…" a small voice whispered from near the ground behind Alex. She turned around from where she had been rearranging the book shelves to find a young girl of around five or six in a buttoned up rain coat, looking up at her in complete awe.

"Hello." Alex said friendlily to the little girl, stooping a little so their height difference was not so great, knowing her height could be intimidating and hoped to make herself seem less daunting to talk to if she was less of a giant to the girl. "What can I do for you?" she added kindly.

"Umm…" the girl murmured shyly, "I was wondering if you worked here? If so could you please help me find something?" the little girl asked once she seemed to find her voice.

"I do indeed work here, what are you looking for Miss?" Alex answered with her work smile, this smile though was the least fake one she had plastered on her face for a customer the few days she had been back at work since her break up with Sylvie. She could tell that addressing the little girl the way she had pleased her greatly due to the grin that almost reached from ear to ear across her little face.

"I'm Emily!" the girl said happily, "What's your name?" She seemed to become more confident the longer she spoke with the brunette giant standing in front of her.

Alex chuckled to herself before replying. "That's a lovely name. I'm Alex. What can I help you with Emily?"

"I was looking for…" the Emily began, listing off a few genres and themes to Alex, who listened carefully and smiled as the she spoke to her.

"Okey dokey." Alex said with a triumphant grin. "Right this way then Emily. I know exactly the book for you!" Alex lead the way into the children's section and let her hands roam the shelves until she found the title she had been looking for. She removed it from the shelf and handed it to the young customer just as the sound of someone calling out a name could be heard.

"Emily! Emily, where are you love?" a woman's voice called from around the corner. Just as Emily had been about to call back, her mother turned the corner and she skipped to her happily and showed her the book she was holding in her hands.

"Look Mummy! Look at what Alex the book lady found for me!" Emily said excitedly, trying to both gesture to the book and the woman that her mother had only just noticed was standing a little way away both at the same time.

"Who's Alex sweetheart?" her mother asked as she looked through the book and smiled, knowing that her daughter would love it.

"She is the nice lady who works here! She helped me find the book!" Emily continued bouncing in front of her mother until her mother made eye contact with Alex.

"Hello Ma'am," Alex said politely. "Your daughter really has good taste in reading material!" Alex added with a smile.

"Hello Alex." Emily's mother said, returning her smile. "Do you have children? You seem really good with them. Emily doesn't usually take to people this quickly…" the girl's mother trailed off.

"I don't have children. But I always seem to be chosen as the reader in the reading corner…" Alex replied pleasantly and a faraway look flickered on her face for a moment.

"You are going to make someone really happy one day." Emily's mother said to Alex, reading her better than most of her friends could.

"Thank you…" Alex said quietly, not sure what else to say to the kind words.

"You're very welcome." The woman said with a knowing smile. Very soon afterwards Emily and her mother bid the brunette farewell and went to the till to pay.

As the mother and daughter began walking to the exit of Red's little book and coffee shop, Alex could hear the final sentence that Emily said before leaving.

"Mummy when I grow up I want to be just like Alex!"

* * *

"Aww, so she sounds so sweet!" Diane said from her end of the phone.

"Yeah, she was. She has come in a few times to see me since, so I think I've got a little friend there!" Alex replied with a short laugh.

"Speaking of friends, Al. How's that Piper friend of yours? I haven't heard much about her recently from you?" Diane asked, curious to know more about her daughter's new friend, never before having Alex talk as much about a friend of hers as she did Piper, despite them only knowing each other a matter of weeks.

"She's good, as far as I know." Alex said with a shrug. "She's been quite busy lately, she's trying to get a manuscript finalised completely for printing and it's stressing her out a bit so I've not spoken to her for a few days as she's spent so much time working that I don't think she's even been home…" Alex chuckled thinking about Piper dashing around trying to get her work finished no matter what.

"Don't leave her be for too long though Al, I'm sure talking to you would be a welcome break from all the stress, or at least it would be for me." Diane could hear Alex seriously considering her words. Alex's mother did not give advice often, but when she did Alex listened carefully as she knew there would always be a point to it even if she couldn't see it to begin with.

There was a pause in their conversation and then Diane broached the subject she had been avoiding since they had begun their talking earlier that evening.

"How are you holding up sweetheart?" her mother asked softly, knowing that for all her daughter's tough exterior she was a very sensitive woman beneath it all and those who she let in close enough to see that were capable of hurting her greatly. Alex had let Sylvie in a few years before their relationship started going wrong and Diane knew that her baby would be hurting still even if she looked, acted and said she was perfectly fine.

"I don't really know." Alex whispered, her voice almost that of a child scared of the unknown. "I think though," she paused, "I think that I'm going to be alright." She sounded surer of herself then she had moments before and her mother felt her heart swell with both pride and sadness for Alex Vause, the daughter she loved more than life itself.

Alex had continued talking to her mother for another half an hour before Diane had had to go and get ready for one of her oddly timed shifts at one of her jobs. Alex was about to call it a night and hoped to fall into a deep slumber when her phone's incoming message tone sounded in the silent room, jolting her from nearly falling asleep.

 **From Piper:**

 **Hey Al, do you fancy getting that coffee tomorrow? :)**

* * *

 **Okay please don't hate me for leaving it like that, again... :) And also please review if you have the chance as I love to hear what you all think of Coffee Stains! Feel free to suggest ideas or things you might like to see happen as I might be able to fit them into my current plans for this story :) Thank you for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello to anybody reading this! I am really sorry for how long it's taken to get the next chapter up and ready, for not replying to any reviews or messages and for any spelling/grammar mistakes you may come across (as there is a fair bit to go through and I'm quite tired…:/) Let's just say there have not been enough hours in the day…**

 **Anyways… I hope you will forgive me my lateness and also that you enjoy the chapter! Read on! :)**

* * *

Alex reread the message again, a grin slowly spread across her face as she quickly tapped out a reply.

 **From Alex:**

 **Hey yourself Pipes! Sounds great! Want me to pick you up?**

Alex hoped she didn't sound unexcited by the idea but also she didn't want to seem as eager as she really felt because that might seem a little weird… She didn't want to say or do anything that might give the wrong impression to Piper.

A few minutes later the brunette's phone buzzed in her hand and Alex was snapped out of her distracted daydream by the sensation of the vibrations that made the tips of her fingers tingle. Quickly she read the message.

 **From Piper:**

 **Great! That would be brilliant :) How's ten for you?**

Alex smiled to herself, recalling their first encounter at Red's Bookshop and Café. She remembered seeing Piper in the queue in front of her but at the time it never even crossed her mind that they would talk or get to know one another and now they were having a coffee date. But, she clarified to herself, not a proper date as Piper was in a relationship and she was certainly not ready to start something with anyone, regardless of how good looking the may be and how easily they seemed to get on.

Alex looked up from the phone in her hand, her mind wandering. She looked out towards the open window a few meters to the left of her queen sized bed, shook her head and smiled. She had forgotten to close the curtains again so a slight breeze and silvery tendrils of light crept through the open window and reached her horizontal form lying on top of the covers. The distraction of the city life outside lulled the already sleepy woman into a sort of doze until she remembered she hadn't replied to Piper's text. Her phone screen flashed on again at the push of the power button and she drowsily unlocked her phone.

 **From Alex:**

 **Okay then, I'll see you at ten! Night Pipes. :)**

The brunette hit send and her eyes began to close as exhaustion started to claim her body. The screen lit up once more and from the lock screen she read Piper's reply.

 **From Piper:**

 **See you then! Goodnight Al. :)**

Gently nudging her phone away from her body and onto the far side of the bed, she quickly drifted off to sleep, a half smile still played on her lips and her eyes moved beneath her eyelids, her mind playing her a happy dream only she would ever see.

Piper hurriedly threw, what she considered, vital items into her bag on the old wooden kitchen side board as she knew Alex would be arriving any second and she was most definitely not ready.

Polly stood from where she had been perched impatiently on the arm of the sofa watching her friend dart around the open plan kitchen and sand came over to her but stopped when a meter or so away from her, watching Piper from a short distance.

"Haven't you left yet?" she asked in a tone that never failed to raise Piper's temper.

"Thanks, Pol!" Piper exclaimed, slightly frustrated with her poor organisation that morning and it showed in her tone. Polly's words still in her ears Piper rolled her eyes and grumbled: "You randomly came round to see me and now you can't wait for me to leave!"

Polly opened her mouth to argue but she was saved from thinking up a retort when Piper's phone made a little noise and her best friend's attention diverted immediately to unlocking the screen and reading the message.

 **From Alex:**

 **I'm outside when you're ready :P**

"She's here. Shit!" Piper muttered, managing to sound both pleased and even more frustrated with herself at not being ready earlier all at the same time.

"Oh hurry up Piper!" Polly said, shaking her head. She looked over at the door to Piper's bedroom and quickly adverted her gaze, refusing to meet Piper's annoyed glare that she could feel burning holes into the side of her head.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to say goodbye to Larry then I'll be out of your hair, anyone one would think it was you who lived here not me…" Piper said sourly in response.

Piper quickly paced over to the bedroom door that was slightly ajar and poked her head around it to see Larry tapping away at his silver laptop keyboard wearing the same clothes he had been a day earlier, trying to desperately finish an article for his newest story on some weird craze that Piper wasn't sure she fully understood from his half-hearted attempt at explaining it to her the evening before. Piper made to step forward to let him know she was about to leave and stopped when he shifted his gaze to her momentarily, his eyes now seeming to register her presence in the room less than a meter from where his feet lay on the bed.

"I'm on a roll right now Piper…" He said trailing off at the end. His voice suggested that he wanted to be left to it and so Piper smiled and waved quickly, masking her twinge of hurt at being dismissed so casually, and backed out of the room to say goodbye to Polly instead.

"See you soon Pol." Piper said with a tight smile as she picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder. She gave her friend a loose hug and made her way to the door.

"Yeah, have a good time Piper. But not too good you hear? I don't want this Alex replacing me as your best friend, understand?" Polly replied dryly. Piper couldn't tell whether her friend had been joking or not…

Piper shook her head and sighed as she pulled the front door closed behind her with a click and began descending the stairs that led to the main entrance to her building. Her old trainers made rhythmic tapping sounds as she stepped on the loose plastic edging of each step until she reached the outer door.

Alex watched as Piper exited the building and made her way to the passenger side of the car that was parked as close to the main entrance as she could get.

"Hey Kid!" She called from the car window she had just rolled down, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Piper opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat and seemed to relax somewhat, no longer needing to rush as she was where her schedule of the day said she would be.

"You got everything?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow in the signature Vause style, taking in how flustered Piper has seemed when she had left the building. Piper rummaged through her bag and swore. The sound of profanity coming from such a proper looking person made Alex chuckle softly and she shook her head to try and stop herself from properly laughing at the blonde for actually checking.

"I've left something behind…" Piper said in dismay, cursing herself as she was usually so organised. "I'll be quick I promise!"

In an attempt to be true to her word Piper sprinted back up the stairs to her apartment, keys already in her hand and let herself in quietly.

"Hey, it's only me. I just forgot my-" she managed to call out before her blue eyes took in the sight before her.

Her best friend and her boyfriend tumbled away from each other in various stages of undress. As they tried to disentangle, Larry's shirt caught on one of Polly's blouse buttons and it took them a few seconds to separate again. Having seen enough already to put two and two together Piper grabbed her purse from the kitchen counter then turned and practically fell out the front door again in her hurry to get back to Alex who was waiting for her in the car.

Larry and Polly both tried shouting variations of "Piper, wait!" in the hope of getting her to listen to their excuses. But Piper wasn't listening. The blonde thundered down the stairs, taking as many as she could at a time, the black plastic strips blurring in her vision as she came flying out the main door looking as white as a sheet.

"Well kid, I can't fault you for saying you'd be quick!" Alex said with a laugh, until she took in Piper's expression. How she looked like she was trying not to cry. Before she could ask her what was wrong a man exited the building almost as quickly as Piper had, his shirt haphazardly done up.

"Drive." Piper ordered softly, not daring to look at the brunette for fear of what her expression would be.

So Alex roused her engine from the low rumble it had been idling at and pulled away before the man could even reach the car.

* * *

It wasn't until they settled into Alex's favourite nook in the book section of Red's Book shop and Café that Alex even attempted to find out what had happened in the few short seconds Piper had been back in her apartment for and had caused her to react as she did. She hadn't dared try on their way there as her friend looked like she was barely holding it together. Piper had refused to meet her gaze and the brunette wore a faint scowl at the turn of events.

Alex motioned for Piper to sit in what was Alex's favourite spot in the whole shop, a comfy and slightly worn looking love seat that Alex spent a fair amount of her time reading in during the lunch hours of her shifts.

Alex carefully dragged a nearby beanbag in front of the loveseat and sat back into it, facing Piper full on. Piper reacted by putting her head in her hands and began sobbing quietly, her blonde hair falling around her hands as she hid her face from the woman in front of her.

"Hey." Alex whispered softly to her.

Piper sniffed in response and bit her lip in an attempt to subdue her tears a little. Alex leant forward so she was kneeling in front of her friend at her face level.

"Hey." She repeated as she tucked a stray blonde tress behind its owner's ear. Finally Piper met her eye and let out a shaky breath.

"What's wrong Pipes?" Alex asked just as softly as before, her hand lingering on Piper's cheek.

"I-I-it's Larry and Polly," Piper spluttered in between the hiccupping breaths that threatened to become sobs. The blonde took a moment before trying to elaborate further. "Larry was… he was cheating on me with my best friend…" As she heard it out loud it seemed to hit her again and her remaining composure crumpled into barely contained cries that seemed to make her whole body shake with the effort of trying to supress them.

Alex moved from her knees into a low crouch and then fitted herself into the space next to Piper on the loveseat. Gently, she pulled Piper into her arms and she was met with little resistance as Piper buried her face into her shoulder where she sobbed until she made no sound. The brunette wordlessly held the blonde to her and stroked her friend's now dishevelled hair lightly. In an attempt to soothe her, the brunette murmured soft words into the other woman's hair and softly rubbed small circles on her back as she cried.

After a little while Piper shifted position slightly to better fit herself into the space inside Alex's arms, now partly curled up on the older woman's lap as she had tucked her legs up to her chest and was now entirely on the loveseat and half sat on Alex too. But Alex didn't mind or object, if it helped Piper get through the situation Alex was all too familiar with, then so be it.

For many minutes the pair sat in silence, the only sounds that could be heard were coming from people outside their little reading nook. Alex dared to try and catch the younger woman's eye, and was met with vacant blue orbs that were still hazy with a film of tears waiting to fall. Piper's mind raced with all her thoughts and what she had seen constantly replayed in her head. She turned her head as she flinched from the scenes playing inside her head and exhaled as she felt Alex rest her cheek on the blonde's soft hair.

How their exchange looked to other people was not at the forefront of either woman's mind, especially seeing at they had not seen anybody else since arriving nor had they really wanted to.

Alex's patience and presence slowly managed to calm the blonde down. She was about to brave suggesting they move to the café and order some food and drinks as it might make the younger woman feel a little better, when their wavering calmness was rudely interrupted.

"Get your fucking hands _off_ my girlfriend." Came a voice from the only entrance to the reading nook.

Piper's head whipped up at the voice and Alex's comforting arms around her tensed into a protective embrace. Alex did not let go of the blonde and she did not make any move to indicate she wanted her to, she felt safe where she was and Piper was worried that if she moved she would lose that safe feeling, then she would have to face Larry and all that would entail regardless of whether she wanted to.

The lack of compliance with his demand seemed to infuriate the still half dressed man. Alex took a second to wonder how he was not stopped on his way here, looking like he did, only the top two buttons of his shirt were fastened and his trousers hung precariously on his hips due to his belt still being undone. He was not looking his best to try and make the situation any better between him and Piper. Surely he'd had enough time to at least sort out his clothing situation a little…

"I know your game bitch," Larry shouted loudly, breaking the soothing ambience of the reading nook. "Trying to turn Piper _gay_ and steal her from me!" he accused, jabbing a finger towards Alex and then Piper.

Piper felt Alex tense at Larry's words and flinched again but this time at the idea and reality of Alex being insulted because of her. Larry took another step towards the pair and Alex maneuvered herself abruptly upright, leaving Piper mourning the safe feeling that had fled as soon as Alex unwrapped her arms from around her.

"Okay asshole, firstly I'm not playing a game or trying to steal your girlfriend, there is no bloody 'gay agenda' okay! I _am_ trying to un-fuck up the mess you've made, and second you don't just _turn_ gay…" Alex raged back at him, letting the latter part of her argument subside, mentally reasoning that it was not the right place to have that debate.

"So you're a smart arse too, are you? I don't see what you're problem is _bitch._ " Larry spat as he tried to square up to her and failed on account to her being almost half a head taller than him and looking a lot more terrifying.

"I'm sorry to have to point this out to you, but if you hadn't been sleeping with her best friend then there wouldn't be a problem…" Alex seethed, trying and failing, to contain her rising anger.

"Why the fuck do you care?"

"Because she is my friend."

"Yeah, well I didn't come to speak to Piper's ' _friend_ ', I came to talk to my _girlfriend._ " He sneered.

Alex glanced over her shoulder and met Piper's lowered gaze and the blonde shook her head slightly.

Refocusing on man in front of her she said, "I don't think she wants to talk to you right now."

Larry scowled and looked past Alex towards Piper.

"Piper," he said, trying to get her to look at him. "It only happened a few times." He shrugged as if that detail made all the difference.

"You're really not helping yourself here…" Alex said, and Larry suddenly lunged past her to try and wrap a hand around Piper's wrist and pull her towards him. He didn't make it close enough to touch her before Alex's hand whipped out and firmly shoved him in the chest, stopping him in his tracks. Piper looked up at the sound of them colliding, and gasped as almost in slow motion she saw Larry pull back a fist and aim a punch straight to Alex's face, finally having had enough of her intervention. Her head snapped to the side and she inhaled sharply, but other than that she gave no other reaction to his violent action.

"Alex!" Piper cried out, reaching out a hand toward her friend. She stopped the closer she got to her due to it decreasing the distance between her and one of the two people she wanted to see the least at that moment. She heaved a sigh of relief as a wild haired woman she recognised as the one who had made their drinks from a few weeks ago appeared behind Larry and place her hands firmly on his arms to prevent him attempting to swing for Alex again.

"I don't know what has been going on here, but it stops. Now." A strong Russian accent commanded from the entrance to the nook. "And you, Sir," Red pointed at Larry, "Will leave immediately and not come back."

"Wha-" was all he managed before he was roughly steered away from the two women in front of him by the wild haired woman behind him.

Red followed after Nicky and Larry to make sure that the unwelcome patron truly had left the premises.

"If you dare come back in here or come anywhere either of those girls again without their saying so, you will be reported for harassment. Do you understand me?" Red's parting words to him were serious enough that he walked away stiffly, without so much as a backward glance in the direction of the place he had just been thrown out of.

As soon as Larry had been escorted from the room, Piper reached out again towards the brunette, she searched Alex's face for signs of damage, guilt and panic making her eyes giant and round. The impact of Larry's fist had split the skin over the taller woman's left cheek and already a bruise was forming around her eye.

Piper held the older woman's uninjured cheek with her hand as she inspected the wound and her other hand rested on Alex's waist to steady her as the brunette seemed to be having trouble standing due to how quickly her head had snapped to the side, it had left her dizzy and a little wobbly.

Piper guided Alex over to the loveseat they had occupied together earlier and helped her sit down. Moments later Nicky re-entered the room with a tray, from which she removed two drinks which she placed on a small table by the side of the loveseat and surrendered an ice pack for the inevitable swelling and bruising of Alex's face into Piper's waiting hand.

As Nicky left, Piper gently applied the ice pack to Alex's cheek and winced as Alex sucked air in through her teeth at the contact of the cold on her cut cheek. One glance in Piper's eyes and Alex could tell she blamed herself and was already beating herself up mentally for causing this to happen to her.

"It wasn't your fault kid…" The brunette tried to reassure her, attempting to bite back a wince as the ice was removed from her face.

"I feel like it is." Was all Piper said in reply and refused to look at her friend again until she was encouraged to take a seat and have her drink.

Both Alex and Piper sat in the loveseat, sipping their drinks in silence. They sat close together, their knees touching and Piper sighed as a thought occurred to her.

"I understand now why they were so hyped about me becoming friends with you. It added an element of unpredictability to their plan, apparently you add an air of mystery to me." Piper laughed mirthlessly. "What else have they lied to me about…?" Her eyes unfocused as she became lost in thought.

"Hey." Alex said, feeling Piper had been left with her thoughts long enough today and so tried to get her attention to break her from her trance. She put down her now empty paper cup and nudged the blonde with her elbow.

"Hmmm?" Piper inquired, her attention snapping back to the woman before her.

"Penny for them Pipes?" Alex said light heartedly, attempting to lighten the tension still in the room after Larry's entrance.

"Not much that you haven't already heard…" Piper trailed off, then picked up again as she said, "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"If you want to." Alex said with a shrug. She had nowhere to else to be and she wasn't sure she was in a fit state to drive as the area around her eye had swollen slightly which was making it increasingly difficult for her to see. "Although Pipes I might have to ask you to drive as I can't see much out my left eye…" she meant for it to make Piper laugh but she frowned and nodded in acceptance.

The pair collected their belongings and as if on autopilot Alex picked up the tray with the now empty drinks cups and warm ice pack on it. The tray in one hand and the other at the small of Piper's back to guide her, they made their way towards the employee entrance situated between the crossover of the café and bookshop.

Momentarily handing Piper the tray, Alex keyed in the unlocking code for the door and opened it for Piper to go through and followed close after her before the door could lock shut behind her. On the other side of the door Nicky glanced up at them from where she had been preparing boxes of books to be put out at the start of the next shift.

"Hey Vause," She greeted the brunette fondly. "Blondie." She added with a nod towards Piper. Her odd choice of name drew a laugh from Piper and the tension in the air lifted somewhat at the sound.

"Just wanted to thank you and Red before we left for what you did and for the drinks. Please tell Red I'll pay for them when I come in for my next shift." Alex directed the request towards the wild haired woman.

"No worries Vause. Red said she'll sort it and not to mention it."

Alex opened her mouth to protest but was interrupted by her friend turning to Piper and speaking in a stage whisper that it was obvious Alex would hear.

"You'd think she take 'Don't mention it' as a cue not to, ya know…mention it…"

Piper hid her mouth behind her hand and made no sound, the shake of her shoulders and the glint in her eye provided all the evidence that she was trying her best not to laugh at Nicky's comment. Nicky grinned, knowing full well that one look at Alex's face and both of them would be in stiches.

A second passed in silence and Nicky cleared her throat politely.

"Now as much as I would love to stay and talk to you lovely ladies, well of course I mean Blondie as there's nothing ladylike about you Vause…" she paused to nimbly jump out the way as Alex made a playful dart towards her for her comment and picked up a couple of books in her hands when she felt she was a safe distance. "But alas I have to take a few of these beauties out into the shop. So I bid you farewell!" With an almost graceful bow to the pair and a very unsubtle wink towards Piper, Nicky left through the door the two women had come through earlier.

"Well then kid," Alex said with a sigh as she ran her hand through her slightly tangled hair, "Shall we go?" with that she made her way out through another door and out towards the main entrance to the bookshop and café.

As the door swung shut behind them a cold gust of air stung Alex's broken skin like tiny ice needles prickling her skin and out of the corner of her eye Piper saw her wince in pain at the sensation. The pair walked close together down the street on which they had first met on due to their coffee fuel collision towards where they had parked earlier that day. Piper guided the older woman by the arm as her balance had yet to fully return to normal and brought her to a halt by the passenger side of what she now came to recognise almost immediately as Alex's car.

Alex turned to her and opened her mouth as if she were going to say something. She hesitated and then looked down at her shoes as if she couldn't bring herself to say what she wanted to while looking Piper in the eye. Alex swore to herself that her pride would be the death of her one day.

"Pipes…" she started. "I know I was joking about it earlier and I really hate to ask, but do you think you could drive please? I can't see very well and I don't want to crash with you in the car…" Alex's face was a mixture of guilt and worry as to how Piper might react to her request.

She was surprised when the blonde smiled and nodded her head.

"Pass me your keys, Al." she said holding out a hand.

Alex fished out her car keys from her pocket and placed them carefully into Piper's waiting hand. She watched as her friend's fingers curled around the keys and they jangled softly in her grip. Without another word she unlocked the car and leant forward to open the passenger door for Alex. She helped her into the car before shutting the door again and walking round to the driver's side and getting in.

"Where are we going?" Piper asked, turning to check Alex was properly seat-belted and ready to go. "Just thought I'd ask as I've got to try and drive there an' all…"

"Umm… I hadn't really thought that far ahead…" Alex admitted. "How about my apartment? If that's not..?"

"Okay then. Not an issue, Al." Piper finished for her. With a reassuring smile she added: "I'll need some idea where it is and possibly directions but I'm sure I'll manage to find it."

They drove in near silence, the only sounds were Alex pointing out turnings or roads when Piper wasn't sure where to go. In between the sound of her directions, it was the kind of silence nobody ever wants to disturb because it is both comfortable and comforting. In those moments that was all either woman needed to feel and so they remained in their relative quiet until they arrived outside the apartment block Alex had directed them to.

As they pulled into a space the engine died down and Piper extracted the key from the ignition before unbuckling her seat belt. She opened her door and went round to assist Alex getting out of the car and then the pair made their way into the main building. Without difficulty the women made their way up the first flight of stairs and came to a halt. Alex pointed along towards the end of the narrow corridor to the only door in that direction. Piper took this to mean that it was the door they were after and when they stopped outside it, Piper fiddled with the keys she still had in her possession until one slid into the lock perfectly and the door popped open with a soft click.

As they entered Alex threw her arm out expertly into the slightly dim room in front of her and switched on a decent sized light that cast a homely glow on the sparsely outfitted room, giving it a warm look. Piper gazed around in awe at the brunette's home, taking in the wall to wall bookcases and endless piles of books stacked in various heights and smiling slightly as she breathed in and noticed how it all smelt slightly of Alex.

The brunette shuffled over to one of the two sofas that filled the room and flopped ungracefully onto it. Piper chuckled quietly at the older woman, who looked up at her and rolled her eyes.

"What? Don't tell me you've never done that on a sofa before because I'd know you'd be lying!"

"I can't say that I have…" Piper started.

"Then you haven't lived!" Alex called out, theatrically throwing her hands out in front of her and letting them fall back to her sides with muted thumps. "Go on Pipes! It's actually quite fun…" she said and raised an eyebrow in the signature Vause look an unspoken dare.

Piper obeyed and she received a heartfelt cheer and the brunette laughed happily, not at all resembling the scary woman she had seen earlier who held back Larry when Piper had not wanted to speak to him.

Piper marvelled at how positive the woman in front of her was being, not long ago Alex had been in a similar situation to herself and the knowledge of that tugged at her insides painfully. Piper frowned at the thought of Alex feeling like she currently did but quickly masked it as she didn't want her friend to notice it or ask any questions.

Green eyes met hers and something flashed behind them, recognition of where the blonde's thoughts had travelled. Alex gave her a tight smile before standing and coming to perch on the arm of the sofa near to where Piper's feet were.

"Hey kid, don't worry okay? You can stay here tonight if you want to and we can sort out everything else tomorrow morning." Her voice was soft and very gentle. So gentle that Piper wasn't sure if she'd imagined it, the expression on Alex's face though showed that even if she hadn't said it, it was what she was thinking.

"Thank you Al…" Piper replied gratefully, secretly pleased that she wouldn't have to go back to the apartment she shared with Larry. It was not like she could go and stay with Polly, her usual port of call whenever anything happened, she might have done had her best friend not been the other person she was so desperate to avoid in that moment.

And Piper certainly couldn't go to her parents' house… Not for the first time that day, Piper thanked whatever it was that had caused her to meet the wonderful person that was Alex Vause who had become her friend so quickly. Today would most definitely have gone a lot worse had Alex not been there to comfort and support her.

Alex's voice broke the blonde from her wandering thoughts, although she had to repeat herself as she realised Piper had not heard her the first time. "Are you hungry? I can do toast or something simple if you like?"

"That would be great... I've not really eaten much today…" she trailed off.

"Fancy anything in particular?"

"Just whatever you're having… I don't want to be a pain."

"Pipes, you couldn't be a pain if you tried!" Alex replied as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. Then she added, "If you want to get changed, there's room to the right over there, it has some spare clothes and pyjamas in the chest of drawers. You're welcome to them. Go have a look if you want while I quickly whip us up some food." Alex smiled kindly before heading towards the kitchen and leaving Piper to make her way to the room she'd mentioned.

A few minutes later Piper wandered out from the spare room and back towards the sofa she had occupied earlier. She was met by the sight of Alex sleepily munching on some toast and sipping from a glass of apple juice. An identical plate of food waited for her on the wooden coffee table positioned in the middle of space between the two sofas.

"Thank you Alex." Piper said as she sank back into her sofa.

"Not a problem, kid." Alex answered with a smile.

A short while later after both women had finished their food and drink and their plates and cups had been washed and left to dry over night, they decided to have an earlier night that either woman would usually consider. Recalling the events of the day in their heads reminded them both of why they were completely exhausted and why maybe attempting to rest would be a good idea.

The older woman insisted on making sure her guest was contented before she would hear of going to bed herself. They spoke for a couple of minutes from their positions across the spare room, Alex standing by the door and Piper tucked into the single bed, before they bid each other farewell until morning.

"Goodnight Pipes." The brunette whispered from the doorway as she switched the overhead light off and slowly brought the door to.

Already the blonde's eyes began fluttering closed and her voice thick with the weight of being at the edge of sleep, the young woman in the room replied:

"Goodnight Al."

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I promise this is only just where it starts getting interesting…. ;) Please please please review if you enjoyed it! (Feel free to review as well if you didn't as I'd love to know how I can make it more enjoyable for everyone.) I would love to hear what you thought and if you have any requests or suggestions I would gladly take them aboard! Thank you for reading! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello! I am very sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long! I must thank the new follower who added this story out of the blue and a follower who's been there since I first published this story for prompting me to get myself in gear and update! I'm still here! I haven't abandoned Coffee Stains as it has far from run its course just yet! Please excuse spelling and grammatical errors… :P**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **BernieWhiskers :)**

* * *

Coffee Stains - Chapter Five

A slight breeze rustled the thin blue curtains that had been drawn in front of the ajar window in the room, light also streamed in casting rays of sunshine on the sleeping woman's face. Piper stirred slightly at the unfamiliar noise and with a mind still thick with sleep, lurched upright as panic set in due to her surroundings.

A few seconds trickled past and Piper's gaze darted around the room as the day before slowly started to come back to her. She took in the sparse furnishings of the room, the chest of drawers and wardrobe made from the same wood in a similar style. As she began to calm, she recalled where she was and who she was with.

It had all happened so quickly over the last 24 hours that she took a moment to process it all.

Larry had been cheating on her. With Polly. Her ' _best friend_ '. She had found out. And then… all hell broke loose with her memory.

Larry found them at Red's? Shit…

Alex standing up for her and getting punched in the face for it… Even more shit…

Piper tipped her head back on the pillow so her body was almost arching and covered her face with her long pale fingers and breathed out a few short strangled sobs. Her hands became wet with crying that wasn't quite crying and she sniffed sharply to try and get a grip on herself. She sat up abruptly and swung her legs round so she could get out of the bed.

"No point crying about that fact the two people you cared about the most were both fucking you over by fucking each other… It's not going to bloody change it, so I might as well get on with life." Piper muttered bitterly to herself before heaving herself up off the bed and standing for a moment, realising she hadn't thought that far ahead…

Now she wasn't horizontal she felt a little less like crying and she began to think a little more clearly. The blonde focused on a few little details in the room like a picture of a younger Alex with and older woman who looked so startlingly similar that Piper guessed it must be her mother. She smiled as she took in another picture of a teenage Alex caught unaware of the fact she was being photographed, the sunlight played with her dark hair and her eyes were lit up with the signs of genuine laughter. She looked so happy Piper thought to herself. She turned back to the bed and made it, thinking about exactly what she was doing to make the bed and nothing more.

Her moves became mechanical as she repeated the same gesture of making and unmaking the bed again and again just to feel the sensation of the fabric moving in her hands and she worked, it gave her something to focus on for a moment. Soon became still again.

The realisation that she was still in Alex house came over her and the more pressing need to release her bladder made itself known.

After a second of thought, Piper tiptoed to the bathroom, she could hear someone in the kitchen mumbling along to the radio while clanging pots and pans in the general sound of cooking breakfast.

She slowly turned the handle of the door she assumed was the bathroom and sighed in relief when she remembered correctly from the night before. She slipped into the room and locked the door behind her.

After washing her hands Piper and checked herself in the mirror. Once satisfied she didn't look too much of a mess the padded towards the kitchen to see the person who was the source of the noise.

"Good morning!" The brunette said pleasantly when she heard Piper's arrival and carried two glasses of orange juice to the breakfast bar where two plates were already waiting.

"Morning Alex." Piper replied with a small, tired smile. She rubbed her cheek gently and let her hand drop heavily, the noise cutting through the moment of silence. Guilt flooded through her as she took in the colourful bruise covering the brunette's face, she hoped it would heal quickly so her friend would not suffer long with it.

Sensing that Piper did not feel ready for a conversation she added: "You're just in time… Breakfast is ready! I didn't know what you'd want so I've kind of laid out all I could think of…" the brunette trailed off as she gestured to the counter top that had various different foods arranged so all the labels were visible.

"That is very sweet Al. Thank you" This time the smile on the blonde's face was less forced and more intrigued.

"No problem Kid! Help yourself!" Alex replied, her voice much softer and she leant her head to the side ever so slightly in a pose of contemplation. Moments past in silence and both women began to help themselves to food from the counter top and began eating, the sound of chewing being the only thing to break the silence.

Once or twice Alex opened her mouth to say something but before actually speaking she shut her mouth again.

"Hey Kid?" Alex began carefully.

"Yes…?" the blonde answered, just as carefully.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about yesterday right now, so I'm not going to mention it again after this, but-" Alex paused as she tried to gauge Piper's reaction to where she was going with this. "I just wanted to say you are welcome to stay with me for as long as you want… I mean if you want…" she trailed off, silently cursing herself for bringing it up.

Piper put down her cutlery and looked down at the dark wooden table, following the grain of the wood until she knew she'd waited too long to reply. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth and gave Alex a small strained smile.

"Thank you Al." the blonde said quietly. "I really do appreciate it…"

"But…?" the brunette prompted gently, realising she'd almost hoped Piper would have agreed to stay with her.

"But I don't want to put you through that…I've got to sort what I'm going to do and it's not fair to drag you into it…"

Alex smiled and looked at her plate, the thought that she'd already been through something like this crossing her mind. She thought about what she would have wanted and chose her reply carefully.

"For now Kid, just enjoy your breakfast. Anything else we can go through once we're finished, 'kay?"

* * *

After the pair had cleared away the remnants of breakfast and washed up the evidence they retreated to their separate rooms in the little apartment to get ready for the day ahead. An hour or so passed before the sound of shuffling feet came from the direction of the room the younger woman had been occupying. The shuffling came to a stop by the end of the sofa the brunette was laying on, completely engrossed in one of her favourite books.

"Hey, Alex…" Piper began.

"Hey yourself, Kid." The brunette replied with a smile as she quickly placed a book mark in her place.

"I've spoken to my boss and taken the day off work… I just can't do it right now… But I need to go and get my things from the apartment… Um… I wouldn't ask… But would you come with me? I mean if you're busy or don't want to that fine, I just-" Piper stopped abruptly at a gesture from Alex and waited for her to speak.

The brunette sat upright on the sofa and turned to face the younger woman head on.

"Hey, Pipes, it's okay. Of course I'll come with you, if I'm honest I don't really want you to go by yourself anyway… You can bring it all back here and then decide what you want to do from there." Alex leaned forward and brushed the back of the hand of the young woman in front of her. "I'm want to help you, okay?"

The blonde smiled at the reassuring gesture and her worry calmed somewhat with the knowledge that at least someone she knew cared enough at this moment to want to help her though it.

"Okay." She exhaled in relief. "Can we go now?" she added quickly.

"Of course." The older woman replied. "Let me just get my keys."

Piper put the key in the lock of the apartment she used to call home and exhaled a shaky breath. She released the key and turned around to face her friend who stood behind her.

"I don't think I can do this…" she whispered into Alex's shoulder as she felt the brunette's arms wrap around her in a gentle hug. Her heart rate suddenly through the roof.

"You don't have to Piper. I can go in and grab some clothes and we can come back some when else." Alex soothed, stroking the blonde's soft hair comfortingly.

After a moment of gathering herself, Piper stepped back and turned to the door again.

"I've got to do this now otherwise I might never have the courage." She breathed.

"Okay, well I'm right behind you okay?" Alex said, resting a reassuring hand on the blonde's shoulder before lowering her hand to her side again.

The key turned in the lock with a soft click and the door swung inwards with a low creak, and the two women were greeted with silence as the door stilled. Piper reached behind her for Alex hand and the brunette gave her outstretched hand a quick squeeze.

The pair walked into to apartment and realised they were both holding their breath. Piper angled herself toward the bedroom and stiffly decreased the distance between herself and the bedroom door. Each step closer filled her stomach with a heavy lead weight of realisation that this was actually happening.

Almost on autopilot she looked around the room she had shared with Larry and felt her heart clench at the sight of all the pictures and memories the room held for her. This is it she thought. With a sharp intake of breath she pulled out rucksacks and overnight bags from where she knew they would be underneath the bed, sprawling them over the floor then began throwing clothes from the nearest wardrobe onto the bed.

Alex caught Piper's eye as she turned to throw something else towards the bed and gestured towards the bag at her feet. The blond nodded mutely and she took that moment to begin packing the closest bag to her with the garments the blonde was now throwing in her general direction.

Once the wardrobe was empty of all her clothes, the blonde moved to the chest of drawers and began the same process of removing everything that belonged to her. Alex worked at a steady pace, hurriedly refolding and organising the clothes being thrown her way and slowly filled up the bags as she went. Working like a miniature golden hurricane, Piper darted in and out of the room throwing books, documents and other sentimental items from around the house and from in the bathroom onto the bed to be crammed into the waiting bags.

When at last the final tangled garment, stray toiletry and piece of paper was unceremoniously stuffed into a bag, Piper stumbled over to the bed and sank to the floor with her back against the mattress and bed frame. The older woman moved over to where she sat and crouched in front of her. Silent sobs caused the blonde's slender frame to shudder as she tried control the emotions coursing through her head. Alex wrapped her arms around the blonde once more and just held her quietly until she felt the shudders subside.

"Is that everything?" she asked gently, hoping the sound of her voice would not startle her friend.

"Nearly… Just a few work manuscripts." the younger woman managed to whisper.

"Where?" Alex said softly, cocking her head slightly as she felt herself frowning in displeasure at her friend's current state.

Piper gestured to the bedroom door and into the open plan apartment. "All in the briefcase on the table out there…"

Alex nodded her understanding and retrieved the last bag and brought it to be put in the small pile next to the open bedroom door. After a few moments they began moving the bags to the front door and into the hallway of the building. Between them travelling up and down the stairs alternating who went each time, it took two trips to the car each to clear the bags from hallway. After one last sweeping look about the apartment Piper removed her door key from her key ring and gently placed it upon the kitchen sideboard and stepped backwards towards the open front door.

"Goodbye." She said to the empty apartment, pulling the door closed with a final click as she left for the very last time.

* * *

The drive back to Alex's house was in silence, neither woman wishing to disturb the delicate calm that had come over them both. As they turned the corner to the street upon which Alex's apartment building resided, Alex smiled in recognition at the wild haired woman who sat on the stairs to the entrance of the building, completely engrossed in an intense typing session on her phone. The brunette pulled into her designated parking spot and unclipped her seatbelt.

"I should probably warn you my friend Nicky, whom you met yesterday is here… Probably checking up on us and seeing if I'll be going to work tomorrow… I can ask her to leave if you'd like?"

"It's okay…" Piper replied with a tired smile.

It occurred to Alex she was trying to hold it together for her sake, hoping that if she acted like it was all okay, perhaps it would be. The pair exited the car and wandered over to the steps to meet the red haired woman.

"Hey Vause, Blondie." Nicky greeted with a grin. "I come bearing stuff…" she added, picking up a medium sized brown bag as she stood. "I didn't know what you'd like so I got a range of things…"

"Thank you Nicky." Piper said by way of reply as the bag was handed to her.

"My pleasure!" Nicky beamed back, her upbeat personality beginning to ease the slightly sombre mood that had settle over the other two women. "Hey Vause, Red wanted to know if you're up for working tomorrow? She's beginning to despair with Lorna's organisation skills…"

"I'll be there Nichols." Alex answered, pushing her glasses to the top of her head while she gently massaged the bridge of her nose.

"'Kay, I'll let Red know." She paused as if considering how wise her next words might be. "Hey, d'you want a hand with that?" the crazy haired woman asked gesturing to the heap of bags on the back seat of Alex's car.

Alex looked over at Piper for her answer, she raised an eyebrow in question, knowing that the blonde had not agreed to stay, nor had she refused completely. Regardless, the look presented the offer to her once more.

The blonde seemed to debate with herself for a moment before nodded her agreement. Alex noticed the relief she felt at the blondes answer, and briefly wondered why exactly she had been hoping she would agree. She didn't have long to consider it though as her thoughts were quickly interrupted by her colleague.

Nicky took a step towards the brunette with a sly grin. She clapped her lightly on the shoulder and said: "Come on then Vause, let's get started."

They unloaded everything from the car into the room the blonde was occupying in Alex's house much quicker than it got there with the three of them working at it. Alex and Nicky flopped down onto the sofas in the book lined living room, a familiar ease between them that made Piper believe it was a common occurrence for the two. Although she felt grateful, Piper felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over her like a heavy blanket. She hovered for a moment by the sofa Alex was lounged on.

After a moment of collecting her thoughts the blonde managed to for words that came out as a tired sigh.

"Thank you for your help Nicky, and I'm really sorry Alex, I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to go back to bed…" Piper said, her gaze fixed to the floor.

"Okay, Pipes. Just shout if you need anything, I'm not going anywhere." The brunette replied softly from the sofa, missing her wild haired friend's raised eyebrows at her response.

Piper nodded her head in understanding before slowly shuffling to the room she had occupied earlier that day.

Once Piper was out of earshot Nicky opened her mouth and spoke around her massive Cheshire cat grin. "Despite not having known her long, you've got a real soft spot for that kid, Vause."

"She just needs someone to be there for her right now Nick… I'm just trying to be a decent friend…" Alex replied, a small frown formed on her brow and Nicky held her hands up in surrender.

"It was only an observation my friend, not an accusation. She seems like a nice kid." Nicky smiled again, this time is was in genuine happiness for her friend. "And as much as I've greatly enjoyed my time with you, I must also bid you farewell as I said I'd swing by Lorna's house to help her with _something…"_

Alex stood as her flame haired friend did and walked with her to the door.

"Thank you Nicky for coming by today and helping bring Piper's things in, I think it helped a lot." the brunette said gratefully to her friend.

The shorter woman smiled in response. "No need to thank me Vause, I just hope Blondie is doing better soon, though I have no doubt you'll look after her." Nicky said completely deadpan.

Alex raised her eyebrow in the signature Vause pose at the comment, knowing full well although her friend had not given the words _that_ intonation that the thought had definitely crossed her mind...

Before she could think up a response the wild haired woman had begun walking down the hallway, the sound of her laughter could be heard until Alex closed the front door to her apartment and went back to the sofa shaking her head in mock despair. As she sank into her favourite position on the sofa she picked up a book that had been resting on the nearby coffee table and took out her bookmark.

* * *

A little later that evening a small knock sounded at the door to Piper's bedroom.

"Hello…" the blonde called from where she lay curled on her side, in the middle of the bed. The door opened and the tall figure stepped into the room towards the bed.

"Hey…" Alex replied as she perched lightly on the edge of the bed, in her hands a steaming mug of a chocolaty coloured liquid and the brown paper bag Nicky had gifted them with upon their arrival earlier. "I brought you a hot chocolate and the pastry bag… I thought you might want something sweet but didn't know which you'd prefer…"

"That's really sweet of you Al… Thank you." The younger woman said as she sat up and took the spotty blue mug the brunette offered to her. She took a sip and closed her eyes as warmth spread through her, the drink sweet but not overly so and hot but the perfect temperature to drink.

"You've got the choice of pain au raison, Cherry Bakewell or chocolate brownie… there might have been a fourth option but I see only crumbs…" Alex joked in an attempt to make her friend smile. She was pleased to see a small smile flicker across the blonde's mouth as she took another sip of her hot chocolate.

"What one would you like?" Piper asked her by way of reply.

"I'm really feeling the Cherry Bakewell if I'm honest… I have a kind of weakness for them…" the brunette admitted with a low rumbling laugh.

"Okay, I'll try to remember that! Um… I think I'd like the brownie please…" the younger woman said, finally answering the question. Alex fished into the brown bag and handed her the brownie as requested. Piper felt the warm brush of her fingertips as she did so and smiled at the comforting touch.

They pair began munching in silence, until Piper looked up at Alex and saw she had crumbs all around her mouth and she began chuckling to herself.

"What…?" the older woman asked, confused as to what had amused the other woman.

"You got that everywhere Al!" Piper exclaimed jokingly, as she spoke her chuckling became full laughter at Alex's horrified expression. She brushed her hand across her face to dislodge the crumbs and rubbed her hands together self-consciously, a grin spread across her face to hide her embarrassment. A few minutes passed and Piper's laughter finally simmered down enough for her to finish her drink.

"Hey Pipes?" Alex asked a while later, nudging the other woman with her knee as she spoke.

"Yes, Al?" the younger woman prompted, nudging her back.

"Tomorrow's going to be better." She answered simply and reached over to give her hand a quick squeeze, her long finger leaving tiny tingles of heat long after she had released her.

Piper laid back into the bed once more as she watched her friend stand and collect the mug and bag from her. She gave her friend a reassuring smile to say she appreciated what she had said and continued watching the older woman as she waved her farewell and closed the door behind her retreating form.

A few moments passed before she spoke.

"I think it just might be, Al." The blonde replied as she closed her eyes once more.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please let me know what you thought by reviewing! This was kind of a bridge between the major events of the last chapter and the upcoming plans for the story, so I apologise if it feels like not much happened. Also, I promise it will not be quite so long before I update next time! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **A/N: Once again I'm sorry for the wait… I hadn't given up I promise! Deaths, weddings, work, life... They just got in the way for a bit. I've had most of this ready for months but getting it to a state where I'd let another human read it took many attempts. I've split the original idea for this chapter in two because I had a few other ideas, plus it would take less time to get another chapter out with most of it written already! Hopefully this will be before next Christmas! ;) I hope I manage to recapture your attentions again and that you'll forgive my plans for these poor characters, I love them and so they must suffer a little…**

 **\- BernieWhiskers**

* * *

"Good morning!" The tall brunette greeted warmly as she walked into the living room of her apartment to find her new housemate already up. Sheets of paper were scattered all over the sofa the younger woman had claimed as hers since having moved into Alex's apartment, almost no fabric could be seen under the mass of black and white text. "How you doing Kid?"

"Morning Al. I'm… good…" the seated woman replied, trying to cover up how the sudden appearance of the brunette had made her jump, she shuffled the papers in her lap.

"No work today?" Alex inquired from where stood after having moved to the kitchen to pour out some coffee, while attempting to hide a small smirk.

"I've got work to do, I just don't have to go in…" The blonde explained with a tired smile, holding up a few manuscripts to emphasise her point. "My boss called to say all the meetings were cancelled and to work from home."

"Today's a reading day then, huh?" Alex gazed at the manuscripts enviously. She took a sip from her coffee and then continued to drink most of it in one go. "Lucky… I've got a longer shift at Red's today because Morello couldn't make it this morning… I love my job, but I love sleeping too!" She gave a short laugh, flattening down an imaginary crease in her uniform t-shirt.

"Yeah, I like this part of my job. I just get to read and correct spelling and grammar, I was practically made for this." Piper's mouth quirked up on one side as she spoke, amused by how apt the statement was.

"Well not all of us can stay at home all day reading…Some of us actually have to _go_ to work" Alex teased as she washed up her mug.

"You work in a bookshop Al… Knowing you, you'll probably end up reading at work…" The blonde smiled but didn't rise to her friend's teasing. "Now shouldn't you be going? If there's one thing I've worked out about your boss, who seems terrifying by the way, is that she doesn't appreciate tardiness!" Piper poked her tongue out playfully, the older woman responded by sticking out her tongue back.

" _Pow… Pow…_ Pow… shots fired! Damn Kid!" Alex chuckled at her friend's response. "Anyone would think you were trying to get me to leave!"

"Well…" Piper began, a cheeky grin hiding behind the wad of paper she held in front of her face as she pretended to have gone back to reading.

"I don't want to hear the rest! I'm going to work. Byeee!" Alex said quickly before Piper could add anything else. Immediately she launched herself, whilst laughing crazily, towards the door. She could hear Piper laughing as the door clicked shut behind her.

* * *

A coffee machine beeped in front of Alex and her hands began to automatically work, flipping switches and pushing buttons as she moved cups around, fitted lids and added toppings. She was working on a large order of mid-morning drinks for a group of smartly dressed people, she was the only one out café side as usually it wasn't this busy at this time of day, _only a few left to go_ she thought to herself.

The office workers were the only customers in the café part of the shop save for an older man who had made his way into the café from the bookshop entrance, a book with a receipt sticking out from beneath the cover in the hand that wasn't holding an old carved walking stick. He waited patiently until the large order was complete and the people had dispersed somewhat before approaching the cash register.

Alex watched him remove his well-loved hat, pinching it at the top and placing it over the handle of his walking stick. He leaned his hat-wearing walking stick against the wooden counter before him and searched around in the pockets of his age weathered coat for his wallet. A wise smile spread across his face when he saw Alex glance at the cover of the book, which he had placed next to the till during his search.

"What can I get you?" she asked pleasantly in her low voice.

"A Chai tea latte with whipped cream to go please miss. It's possibly a weird combination I know…" the aged man commented as he counted out the coins to pay for his drink. "But it tastes like Christmas!" He laughed along with Alex.

"It's a good tale." Alex said as she began making the drink, gesturing as she spoke to the book. "I loved it when I read it!"

"You've already read it?" the man asked with surprise, a slight sparkle entered his grey eyes. "It's only been out a few days!"

"Well… I read quickly… Plus I get to read some of the books before they are officially put on sale here and I recommend whether we should stock it on the shelves. I love the stand-alone books that get sent my way. Some, like that one, are truly unique." She began dressing the cup with whipped cream. By the last word she was gazing, with her head cocked to one side, at a slightly lopsided mountain of cream dusted with cinnamon and coco powder.

"That's quite a responsibility! And I'm glad you chose this particular book, I had yet to see somewhere sell it." He replied.

"D'you know the author, Sir?" Alex asked to prompt the conversation, intrigued by his comment.

"You could say that…" the man chuckled as Alex handed him his paper cup followed by a plastic spoon and lid. "Well thank you Miss!" He collected up his belongings, tipped his hat to his barista and tucked the book inside his jacket.

"Have a good day, Sir!" Alex called after him as he made his way towards the door.

"You too, Miss." He answered kindly, he turned to say one last thing. "If you get the chance, try the drink, I have a feeling you might like it." And with that he left the café.

"Vause." Red said from behind the tall brunette, her Russian accent strong. "After your break, you will help Nichols in the storeroom, I think she could use the company." A knowing look showed on the older woman's face.

"Sure Red, will do." the brunette nodded, she glanced at the clock on the wall behind her and began the countdown until her break.

* * *

"Yo Vause, could ya pass me those stickers?" Nicky asked, gesturing half-heartedly to a roll of promotional stickers next to the taller woman's left hand. In one smooth motion, she took a sticker off and tossed the rest of the roll into Nicky's waiting hands, the proceeded position the sticker on the book she had been holding.

Nicky looked as if she wanted to say something and then seemed to change her mind. Alex glanced at her friend but pretended not to have noticed. Nicky tried again and then shook her head once and seemed to settle for something else.

"How's Blondie doing?" the red-haired woman offered.

"Yeah, I think she's doing better. She's at home reading some manuscripts today." Alex replied with a small smile. "I think she just needed a while for things to settle down for her. Oh, that reminds me… I'm going to sort out a parking permit for her car so she doesn't have worry about not having a space to park in if she moves her car. I think I might take her shopping later too, as we're running out of food!"

"Well she's had a couple weeks of living with you, speaking from experience, I'm wondering how she hasn't gone mad already!" Nicky threw back her head and laughed, it was the closest to happy she's looked all day.

"Fuck you Nichols!" Alex retorted, a grin now on her face. She was pleased, even if it was about her, that her friend was still trying to make jokes.

"No thanks Vause, don't think you'd do it for me!" Nicky quipped, shooting her a playful wink. Her mind seemed to wander and immediately she became subdued again.

Alex sighed quietly beside her friend, all progress at finding out the problem lost.

"Yo dudes! I'm back!" A cheery young woman with a black tattoo trailing down her throat called over to Alex and her wild haired companion from the doorway to the storeroom. She continued into the storeroom but stopped a few meters from where they stood sorting books onto a trolley to re-stock the shelves in the shop.

"Hey Trish! I didn't realise you were back!" Alex said through a smile, glad to see her old colleague.

"Yeah… Good to see ya, Trish." Nicky mumbled distractedly from next to Alex, her fingers fumbling with a reel of promotional stickers she was attempting to position on the covers of the books Alex had sorted for the shelves.

"Yeah… I got my shit sorted. Red said I could come back if I kept it together. Our family has to stick together, right Nick?" Trish said kindly. Her words were met with a small nod from the short woman. To prolong their conversation, she added: "Hey, I heard Morello couldn't make it in today? She okay? You two are always stuck together like glue! It's weird not seeing you together!"

The red-haired woman's hand froze over the books she was about to pick up at the mention of her colleague's name. "Dunno…Sure she's… fine." Nicky said, her breathing catching slightly as her eyes darted down to stare at her hands. She became still, quite the opposite of her usual bouncy self.

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of Red's voice over the small set of speakers in the storeroom "Trish. Please come to my office."

It was as if she had heard their conversation or could sense the tension in her adoptive daughter. Which if she was looking at the CCTV then perhaps she really could… There was no telling with Red most of the time. Either way they all knew not to keep her waiting.

Alex waited a few moments after the polished wooden door to Red's office had snicked closed behind Trish before turning to her friend.

"Nicky? You okay? Nichols…?" she asked. "NICK!" Alex called loudly.

"Jesus Vause…" the flame haired woman jumped visibly. "What?" She snapped.

"I asked if you were okay. You completely spaced out when Trish asked where Morello was… What's going on?"

"And I said hey, hey, hey, hey…No? Okay…" she tried. When her friend gave her a serious look she went for a different tact. "Sure? Why wouldn't I be? _Nothing's_ going on, that's point." Nicky muttered, attempting an insouciant shrug whilst refusing to meet Alex's worried gaze.

"I know you Nichols. Don't bullshit me. Is it about Lorna?" Alex said, giving her friend a gentle nudge.

"Yeah…" Nicky nodded glumly, picking at her fingers while she spoke.

"You two had a falling out or something?" Alex queried softly.

"Or something…" Nicky answered quietly. The wild haired woman waited for the brunette to ask another question, but when she didn't it became clear she was patiently waiting for Nicky to elaborate.

"I thought-" the shorter woman inhaled sharply, pausing her sentence as she thought about how to finish it. "I thought maybe she and I were… possibly… Well, I don't know what I thought, Vause."

"What do you mean Nick?" Alex said with a gentle tilt to her head.

"I thought maybe we had 'something'. I fucked it up when I tried to kiss her last night. No show at work the next day, go fucking figure." Her voice broke on the last few words.

"Well…" Alex began, carefully considering how she proceeded. "What do you mean tried?"

Nicky thought on her answer before responding, a hand self-consciously rubbing at the back of her neck, ruffling her mane at the same time. "We kissed… and it seemed to be going okay, well more than okay. Until she remembered and announced that she was kind of seeing someone. Worse, a _guy_. Christopher. Fucking straight girls, they'll be the death of me."

Alex whistled, "Fuck dude. I'm sorry. Didn't think she'd have that in her…"

"Al, now don't go thinking badly of her, at least she said something before letting it get further, it was just me seeing what I wanted to see. Not what was really there." Nicky defended. That's when the brunette realised just how back her friend had been caught.

"Rule number one: Don't fall in love with a straight girl!" Alex said somewhat seriously, she laughed to soften her words at the look Nicky gave her.

" _You're one to talk…_ "Nicky breathed softly enough that her friend didn't hear her over the sound of a book snapping shut.

* * *

"I think I met the author of a book I've read today…" Alex mused thoughtfully as wandered into the living room.

"Oh really?" Piper murmured distractedly from where she sat on her sofa. Paper still covered every surface she wasn't occupying herself.

"Yeah, he didn't say it but I think he was definitely linked to that book somehow… Anyway Pipes, can I ask you something?"

Piper looked up sharply, dropping the paper in her hand to give Alex her full attention. She stood and moved so she was leaning against the arm of the sofa closest to Alex and began wringing her hands nervously whilst waiting for Alex to speak.

"So, we've hardly got any food in the house now, last time I went shopping I hadn't bought with the thought of having someone else living with me…" Alex began carefully.

"I'm sorry Alex… I can always leave…" Piper mumbled, a small frown creasing her brow, her shoulders drooping as she exhaled.

"No! No... That's not what I was going to say!" Alex interrupted her quickly, not being able to stand the idea that the blonde thought she was no longer welcome to live with her. She nudged the blonde's foot with the toe of her shoe to get her to look up again. "I was going to ask if you want to come food shopping with me? So I can get to know what kind of things you like. I mean, I want you to actually like the food in the house…"

"Oh…" Piper said, startled that this was not her being told to find somewhere else to live. "Um… That would be nice. Thank you Al…" her heart fluttered Alex's thoughtfulness.

"Not a problem, Kid." Alex said with a reassuring smile, nudging Piper affectionately as she stepped past her to get her purse from the small coffee table. The younger woman laughed as she lost her balance backwards into the safety of the sofa cushions. Seizing her chance, Alex darted forward and began tickling the blonde and laughed as the blonde began wriggling to free herself, clearly very ticklish and no match for the brunette.

"Al! Al… Alex! I can't breathe! Please!" Piper managed to get out between short laughs and gasps.

"Who knew you were quite so ticklish Ms. Chapman!" the older woman commented as she retreated to allow her friend to regain her breath, pleased that she could make the other woman laugh, even if it was through a friendly form of torture.

Piper struggled to her feet and slowed her breathing in an attempt to slow her heart rate and her mouth quirked into an involuntary smile at the sight of her friend's wide grin.

"Race you?" the brunette proposed, raising her eyebrow in the signature Vause look Piper was becoming accustomed to.

"You're on!" the blonde answered quickly and made a mad dash towards the door, laughing excitedly as she felt Alex lunging after her, less than a step behind.

* * *

"I'm in charge of the shopping trolley!" Alex announced quickly as she ran to the line of trollies and extracted one from the pack, fumbling in her haste with the chain that connected each trolley to another.

"Haha… Okay then… What are you, like twelve?" Piper laughed in response.

The older woman squared her shoulders, raising herself to her full height and held her head proudly before throwing the other woman a wolf-ish grin. "Thirteen _actually_. At least let me be a teenager!"

The blondes mouth quirked at her friends humour and she shook her head in mock despair. Without another word she walked towards the entrance to the shop and began browsing the endless products crammed onto the shelves.

A few aisles later the older woman gently tapped her friend on the arm as they were walking down the aisle that contained fruit and vegetables, to gain her attention. The pair paused their slow wander to take stock of the items adorning the shelves. There was a moment before the older woman spoke.

"What kind of things are you looking for then Pipes? Toiletries? Food? Give me some ideas and then we can play the game of 'hunt-the-product!' around the shop."

"Well… Salad items are a good start…" The blonde walked over to the section of the shelves that contained various bags of mixed leaves and stared up and down the wall looking for a familiar brand.

"Leaves… You want to buy leaves. To eat…?" Alex joked, bringing the trolley closer so that Piper could put them in, even though she teased her. She received a playful nudge for her comment and she grinned at the small smile Piper was trying not to let show. Their eyes met for a brief second and then the blonde dropped her gaze to the bag of leaves she still held in her hand.

Piper took a moment before replying, her voice held a note of laughter. "Not a salad fan then? Seriously you're missing out."

"I'm not a rabbit! I can't eat that!" the older woman joked in response.

The blonde rolled her eyes at this and gave the brunette a mock scolding gesture.

"Sure you can Al, it's good for you!"

"Whatever you say, Pipes. I haven't died yet!" Alex joked happily.

The younger woman reached up towards the top shelf of the aisle she had just walked down to collect an item she had just spied as she let her eyes roam the aisle shelves. Just before her fingers made contact with the packet she was aiming for, she felt a warm presence behind her and then a light but insistent pressure at her sides. She dropped down from her tiptoes and fell backwards at the sensation into waiting arms. Immediately she began her attempt to wriggle once again out of a relentless tickling spree at the hands of her new housemate.

"Alex! Nooooo…! Al!" the blonde managed to gasp out in between trying to defend herself from the persistent presence of tickling. She couldn't help but smile as she hopelessly tried to free herself again. After using up her available energy she slumped back into the brunette's embrace, the sound of the older woman's deep laughter reverberated through her back as she leaned against her to regain her balance. The previously attacking hands rested motionless now on her hips allowing her to compose herself. The blonde exhaled a small laugh and made once again to take the item she wanted from the shelf, her hand got less than half way there.

"I fucking knew you were fucking her!" a voice shouted from a few meters away.

"For fucks sake…" Alex muttered as she dropped her hands from the blonde's waist, turning as she did so, to look at the owner of the familiar voice whilst cautiously positioning herself in-between Piper and the newcomer.

"So you're not denying it?" the voice demanded when Alex didn't reply immediately, annoyed by the lack of reaction.

The brunette sighed as she set her jaw and relocated her glasses to the top of her head. She closed her eyes as she considered the best way to respond to this fucked up situation.

"Well?" she was prompted.

Something in the brunette's composure cracked, anger flowed through her and shaped her lips.

 _Fuck it_. She thought.

"You know what Sylvie? You lost any right to know what's happening in my life when you did what you did." Alex snapped, jabbing a finger towards the other woman's chest. "So yeah, maybe I'm fucking her, or maybe I'm not. You'll just have to live with never knowing which it is."

With that she took Piper's hand and led her away down the aisle, away from the woman she had once been with, before she'd shattered her trust in love and broken her heart. Leaving her ex to gape at their backs as they left, rattled by the harsh words that had tumbled from her former lover's mouth.

The older woman didn't drop the blonde's hand until they reached the checkouts and even then she kept an eye out for any sight of her ex coming back for round two. This resulted in very little conversation between the two women. Piper observed the tension in her friend and felt a stir of sadness in her stomach. They unpacked the items they had managed to gather before they were interrupted onto the conveyer belt in relative silence, the cashier kept up a healthy stream of conversation that only required a few encouraging noises from Piper so as not to seem rude.

They paid for the items and the journey to the car was completed in silence. It was only after both women had climbed back into Alex's car that any real attempt to talk was made.

"I'm sorry for what I said back there. I shouldn't have risen to it and I really shouldn't have insinuated we might be sleeping together…" Alex began to apologise, her shoulders drooped. "I knew it would aggravate her... That's not an image you probably want people to have. I shouldn't have taken that advantage." As she finished speaking she bowed her head.

The blonde could only think how broken she looked in that moment. It stirred a protective feeling in her stomach to see Alex look so vulnerable. She brushed her fingers across the woman's knee to get her attention.

"Al, it's fine. She can think what she wants, as can anyone else. I'd be a very lucky woman to have someone like you." She finished with a smile as she tried to catch the other woman's eye.

Alex blushed at the compliment even though it was obviously meant non-romantically, and Piper reddened when she realised what she had said. The pair left it with no further comments made as neither knew what to say in response to the other's reaction. After a few minutes of silence between them Alex turned on the radio and began tapping the steering wheel in time to the soft music coming from the car speakers. Not long after she began murmuring the lyrics to one she seemed to particularly like. Piper gave a small smile at the sight and joined in with the songs she knew.

* * *

It took a few trips from the car to the main entrance to their apartment block to get all the bags inside the building, once they managed that it was a case of juggling and carrying all the bags a short distance at a time and attempting to get up the stairs to Alex's door and into the kitchen of their apartment.

"Do you have a preference as to what we have for dinner?" Piper asked Alex as she began unloading the items from the bags onto the kitchen counter.

Alex took the items the blonde unpacked and put them into the cupboards, fridge or freezer. "Um... I hadn't really thought about it to be honest Pipes. What do you fancy?"

The blonde held up a can of tomatoes and a packet of spaghetti with a small grin. Alex turned back to the fridge and began handing back the other ingredients that could be used for spaghetti Bolognese. "I'll take that as a yes?" Piper asked with a small laugh.

"Sure Kid, I haven't had pasta in ages!"

"Right, let's get the rest of this away and I'll make it, give you the night off!" Piper replied with a wink.

The pair sat side by side on the sofa Alex usually claimed, bowls of pasta in their laps so they could watch an episode of a program together while they ate. Part way through their meal Piper looked over at the brunette to see if she was enjoying the food and noticed she had a small smudge of sauce on her face. Not thinking, the blonde reached across to gently wipe it off with the side of her thumb, she realised what she had done and looked away with an awkward smile.

Alex noticed her friend's sudden shyness and decided not to mention it, simply smiling warmly while continuing to face the screen, she remained aware however of every movement of the woman beside her.

To distract the blonde Alex decided to share a little anecdote she had just remembered. "D'you know, I once tried making a vegetable lasagne but only put one layer of pasta sheets in the middle because I forgot lasagne had layers, plural…"

"Really!?" Piper exclaimed with a giggle.

"Really… Cooking has never been a strong point of mine, it's a wonder I never gave myself food poisoning… At least you can cook! This tastes amazing!" Alex replied, embarrassment colouring her usually pale cheeks.

They continued eating and soon forgot the little moment even happened. Once the women had finished eating and the program had ended they both got up to put the kitchen to rights. Alex took up her position at the sink to wash up and the younger woman found a towel to dry up the newly washed kitchenware. After being dried, everything was put back in its rightful place in the varnished wooden cupboards.

The two women retired back to the living room where Piper picked up a handful of manuscripts from where she had stacked them on the coffee table before they had gone shopping and Alex began flipping through channels to see if anything she liked was on. After a while Alex looked over at Piper tucked up with a blanket reading and switched off the television. The brunette got up and turned off the main light, then quickly crossed the room to turn on a lamp on the table beside Piper's sofa. She flopped back down in front of the sofa the blonde was curled up on, leaning her head back against the sofa cushions and the younger woman's knees. Her friend looked away from her manuscript for a second to look down at her friend.

"Nothing on that you like?" Piper teased, mentally comparing her friend to a bored teenager.

"Nope... I was wondering if I could read manuscripts with you?" Alex inquired, tilting her head further back so she could see the blonde while she spoke. Her eyes were a deeper shade of green in the warmer lighting.

"Of course you can! I've just finished with these ones anyway." The younger woman replied. She handed Alex the finished manuscripts. "Grab another from the table, will you?"

Alex leaned forward to collect another stack of treasury tag bound paper and immediately felt a chill go through her hair where she had been leaning against the sofa and Piper and now wasn't. She settled back into a comfortable position and tugged a spare blanket from over the arm of the sofa.

"It's titled: "Litchfield" By Stella Carlin." Alex read.

"Oh, that's the newest one I've been given, I haven't even looked at it yet! Will you read it out loud?" the blonde asks, ruffling Alex's hair by accident as she shifts positions so she can see the writing over Alex's shoulder. Piper settled on her side, using one of her arms as a pillow, her blanket pulled up to her shoulders.

Alex began reading, her voice so low she could feel the rumble of her words in her chest. As she read Piper made comments about lines or phrases she wanted to add annotations to. She read page after page until a few hours had passed, Piper's commentary had slowed and Alex could have sworn she heard yawning behind her.

"Pipes, do you want me to stop for tonight?" Alex said quietly after the most recent yawn.

"No Al! Please don't stop reading, it's very relaxing." Piper mumbled sleepily right next to her ear.

So the brunette kept reading but made her voice softer, until her friend's breathing had slowed considerably and she was certain Piper had drifted off to sleep. She glanced round and smiled at the content look on the younger woman's face, how peaceful she looked while sleeping. Alex returned to reading, but silently now.

Not long after she felt her own eyelids grow heavy and the words in front of her started to become fuzzy. The older woman barely noticed when her limbs relaxed and her head lolled backwards, resting lightly against the blonde's stomach. Neither woman noticed when the evening became properly the night, nor when the sun began to rise again in the morning.

* * *

 **A/N: As usual thank you for reading and if there was something you did/didn't like please let me know so I can keep/stop doing it! Thank you to the new followers and gentle nudgers, it really is encouraging when in a bit of a writing slump! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Halloo! I'm sorry I've not updated in ages, I'm useless at regular updating so please don't hate me… Life just gets in the way… I know this is only a baby chapter but I wanted to give you something… anything…to show I'm still going with this, just very, very slowly… Hope you are not all disappointed!**

* * *

 _THUD, THUD, THUD._

The woman on the floor woke with a start, a little disorientated to find herself not in her bed as she expected, but still on the floor where she'd been sat the night before. She calmed a little as she took in the room and confirmed neither woman had made it from the living room to their respective beds, both blissfully unaware and content in sleep until some delightful person had come knocking at the door.

A bright beam of morning sunlight filtered in through the still-open curtains of the room, making Alex close her eyes against the light. Her mind was whirling from the odd dream she'd had about prisons and daring adventures of running from drug lords after finishing the remainder of the script she'd been reading to Piper. She opened her eyes again to find the world a blur. After groping around for a second, the brunette located and donned her glasses and the world snapped into focus.

Coffee. Coffee was the answer, she thought to herself. She struggled to her feet, the blanket she had had wrapped around her fell to the floor as she made it upright. Untangling the material from around her feet, she started towards the kitchen.

Whoever was on the other side of the front door reminded her of their presence once more by knocking a little louder. _Coffee_ , Alex thought again, _right after I tell whoever woke me to kindly remove themselves from the building…_ with a sigh she changed course and hurried to the door before they woke her friend who was still slumbering peacefully. She reached for the latch and opened the door.

"Vause!" A familiar voice laughed from the hallway. "You look bloody awful!"

"Thanks Nichols… that would be because you just woke me up…" Alex grumbled at her friend before opening the door wider. "Come into the kitchen, but quietly. Piper is still asleep. We'll talk once I've had caffeine."

The other woman winked in response and placed a single finger over her lips as she smirked and crossed the threshold, tiptoeing towards the kitchen area.

Alex began systematically opening doors and drawers to begin making drinks, without thinking she retrieved three mugs and placed them by the gently bubbling kettle. Nicky watched her friend shuffle still half asleep about the kitchen with amusement before deciding to speak.

"So… You and Blondie… Both up late, slept in there last night… Together?" The wild-haired woman enquired, her eyebrows danced suggestively as she dodged a sloppy lunge from her friend at her words. She held up her hands in mock innocence, her look however was more mischievous than before.

"We were reading Piper's manuscripts for work, she fell asleep before me and I finished the script and must have drifted off at some point…Nothing _happened_ , Nick." Alex attempted to explain, moving her glasses to the top of her head as she turned back to the kettle to start pouring boiling water, instant coffee and sugar as desired into mugs, becoming anxious her friend was thinking the worst.

The brunette's thoughts drifted to her outburst towards her ex the day before and her pale face reddened slightly at the memory. Not usually one to be shy about her sexscapades when it came to telling Nicky, she reasoned it was too just early for this shit and she still hadn't had her coffee and that is why she felt so defensive of her slumbering housemate.

"Whoa, calm down Vause! I was only teasing! No need to get yourself worked up!" Nicky held her hands up again, this time to calm her friend rather than tease her. She took note of her friends slightly odd reaction and resolved to coax an explanation from her one way or another.

"Sorry… I'm just a bit tired. It's a bit early for this, I'll explain later… Coffee?" the brunette offered as an explanation to her defensiveness, a hand that had been pressed to her temple quickly tucked her glasses back into place and restored her sight again. She handed the wild-haired woman a steaming mug without waiting for her reply and made her way back into the living room.

* * *

"So… What are your plans for today, Kid?" the brunette inquired as she handed her recently awoken housemate a mug and flopped herself back onto her sofa she was now sharing with her best friend. She remembered too late she had the final cup of coffee in her hand and cursed softly when a warm trickle of brown liquid spilt over her hand.

The blonde and the fiery haired woman attempted to cover their smiles by each taking a sip from their own mugs while their friend attempted to mop the mess she had made with the hem of her shirt.

"Ummm…" the blonde mused, she took another sip of her drink before replying. "Well, firstly, I think I'm going to have a shower. Then I've got to finish marking up that last script quickly before booking a meeting with the author, Stella, and confirming some details on an event we've got coming up. Then… Actually! I think that's about it!" she finished by staring down into her drink.

"It's a Saturday Kid… Sounds like an awful lot of work for a weekend." The older woman grinned as her friend rolled her eyes.

"It'll take a few hours at best, Al. It's not the entire weekend!" Piper shook her head and smiled before adding, "What about you two?"

The wild-haired woman tilted her head slightly as she listened to the blonde, taking in the easy interaction between the other two women with a small smile. "I'm gonna steal your roomie for a little while if that's okay with you Blondie? I need to eat and…eh, she knows how to show a girl a good time." Nicky joked, with a wink in Alex's direction. She glanced back at the blonde to take in any reaction to her comment, finding an amused half-smile that was not conclusive in furthering her investigation in to her friend's slightly off demeanour.

"Very funny Nick…" Alex protested playfully. She directed her attention to blonde again. "I was hoping you might have some time at some point this weekend… Might you be familiar with making any kind of cake? If you are… Could teach me so I could participate in the charity bake competition at work? I have literally no idea how to bake a cake…" The brunette rambled, feeling a little self-conscious to be asking for help.

"I'm sure I can fit you into my busy plans at some point…" Piper teased, reaching for a pen and scrap of paper that was lying within reach from the night before. She quickly noted something down in her elegant script before continuing. "We've actually got all the ingredients already, except for icing sugar…So if you grab some at some point we can give it a go!"

"Dude, that event is not for at least another two weeks!" Nicky laughed at her friend's attempt at preparation.

"I anticipate a number of failures Nick…" Alex replied in a serious tone to the woman seated next to her. Then turning to Piper, "I'm sorry, I should have thought about it yesterday…"

"Don't worry about it Al, we got interrupted, it's okay." The blonde tried to reassure.

"Well… if that's all settled, can I steal her now? Dude, I'm _starving,_ if you know what I mean." Nicky piped up with a flirty wink at the blonde. She certainly hadn't missed the unspoken conversation the other two women has just shared and wished to discuss it with Alex before her friend could attempt to deny any such thing taking place.

"You are insufferable Nick…" Alex laughed with a shake of her head. She got up to accept the piece of paper from her housemate and handed it to her best friend. "Please look after that for a second, I'm just gonna get changed and I'll be right with you."

The two women left on their respective sofas chatted lightly as they waited for their missing friend to return. A few minutes later their conversation was interrupted by a chirpy pre-set ringtone, it took a moment for either woman to react to the noise.

"Oh shit… I can't get it out my pocket…" Nicky cursed as she fought to retrieve her ringing mobile. A second later she had managed to wrestle it out of her pocket and hastily answer it. "Hello? Hey Red!" there was a slight pause as the wild-haired woman listened to the person on the other end of the phone, before she replied with a laugh. "Yeah… I'll be a good daughter and come when called…" seconds later the line went dead and the wild haired woman began wrestling her phone back into her pocket. At that moment Alex returned from getting ready, wallet in one hand, keys jangling in the other.

"Seems we'll have to take a rain check on our little date Vause, Mumma Red needs some help over at the shop as someone called in sick today." While her voice showed no issue with the new circumstances, the shorter woman looked slightly torn about leaving.

"It's okay, go get ready for work!" the brunette encouraged, knowing full well it wouldn't pay for her friend to be late, regardless of the love their boss had for the quirky younger woman.

"You sure? I'm sorry dude…I actually wanted to talk to you." Nicky met her friend's eye and then looked away quickly, hoping her friend would catch her drift.

"I'll come by when you're on lunch?" Alex offered immediately, fearing the worst at those words.

"Sure, we can catch up then. I'll let you know when I'm off." Nicky agreed. After a second she slid herself from the sofa and into an upright position, and headed for the door. As she was walking out into the hall she spun around and pointed at the sofa she'd been sat on. "I left my keys behind…" the brunette tossed them to her with a chuckle and shook her head as her friend caught them and shut the door behind her.

"Seeing as I'm ready to go out, I might as well run to the shop and grab the final item. Want anything while I'm there?" Alex asked lightly as she stepped towards the door, hesitating to wait for a response before leaving.

"I'm good thanks, Al." Piper replied gratefully as she began collecting up the empty coffee mugs to take to the kitchen.

"Alrighty, I'll see you in a bit then!" The taller woman smiled, waving slightly as she shut the door.

* * *

The door to the apartment creaked open with a muffled thud as the person shuffling over the threshold kicked at it to open it wider. Once the figure had entered she nudged the door closed with her hip and made her way to the kitchen to quickly put away all the perishable items she had bought while she was out.

"I got a bit carried away and bought a load of stuff I thought we might need too… like a cake tin…that is kind of important…" the brunette called out to the house, hoping her friend would be listening if she was around. She was met with silence. With a shrug, she continued to put away the items she had brought to make up for the interruption in shopping the day before as well as those needed for the cake making process. After she was finished she walked into the living room area and found the blonde sat staring into space, looking a little dazed.

"What's this?" Alex said, walking over to her housemate, picking up a piece of paper resting on the coffee as she came to perch on the arm of the sofa closest to her friend's head. The blonde took the paper from her hand hastily, before she could begin reading it. A look of guilt flashed across her features at her actions, she dropped her arm heavily against the sofa cushion.

"Oh that… the post came while you were out. My mother found your address. She had someone post it though the outside door, someone must have then put it in your post locker when they saw the number and voila, I collected the post..." she sighed deeply and flopped her head back to avoid any eye contact when she next spoke. "You know what gets me? She waited this long to express her views on the distorted version of events with Larry. This is the first thing she has tried to say to me since it happened."

At the mention of the blonde's ex the older woman's mouth turned down with distaste. She didn't like where this was going…

Before she could lose her nerve, Piper unfolded the paper and began reading it out loud, the roles now reversed between the pair.

 _Piper,_

 _I was very shocked and disappointed to receive the news that you left Larry-_

The brunette put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder to halt her.

"You don't have to read the rest, Pipes." She said quietly, taking in how drained Piper looked compared to her earlier bubbly self. Her work sat completed on the table, as well as her diary open with a new appointment written inside. The brunette wanted to spare her friend any further unnecessary unhappiness, so she added. "I don't think you really need or want to read it again."

Relief flooded through the blonde, the gentle pressure of the older woman's hand gave her comfort that she was not alone. She leant her head against her friend's lap and Alex moved her hand to stoke the blonde hair resting against her.

Piper waited a few moments to allow herself to be calmed by the soothing motions, then she took a breath and steeled herself to reveal the icing on the cake.

"She finished the letter saying she didn't approve of my current living arrangements and by demanding I go to lunch to ' _discuss what I've done'_. Of course, it's dated for today…"

* * *

 **A/N: Rightio… I've got a large part of the next chapter sorted so it shouldn't be** _ **too**_ **long before that is finished… if I don't get distracted! :P Feel free to review or message me with ideas/improvements. Also thank you to all the people who have been reading/following/favouriting/reviewing. It literally makes my day. :D**

 **-BernieWhiskers**


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